Attached
by ThreeBlackNoises
Summary: When Elizabeth; a resident of the velvet room; wishes for a chance to learn more about bonds of friendship, she unknowingly sets off a chain of events that effects the Pokémon world in profound ways. Drawing a blind human from the real world to the Pokémon world is just the beginning... Pokémon original AU. Rated T just in case.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer

Pokémon is a registered trademark of Satoshi Tajiri, Game Freak, the Pokémon Company,

Nintendo, etc.

The Persona series is a registered trademark of Atlus.

All trademarked characters, locations, themes and ideas are used

without permission in a work of fan-created fiction.

Any similarities to actual persons; living or dead, or to entities existing or formerly existing is purely coincidental.

The following has been done without profit for pure entertainment purposes.

All original concepts, characters, themes and ideas within are

the copyrighted property of the author, and are not to be reproduced without prior consent.

Author's notes:

before we begin, I'd like to clarify a few things.

First of all, I'm visually impaired in real life, and as such, certain visual descriptive elements will most likely be missing from this story.

I do apologize in advance for this, and hope it won't detract from the story I'm trying to tell.

I've managed to find vary detailed descriptions of the Pokémon from sites such as bulbapedia and wikipedia, and will be using them as reference when describing the Pokémon that will appear in this fan fiction.

As for the human characters from the Pokémon world that will appear, I was not able to find anything beyond hair and eye color, so descriptions of these characters will most likely not be present, or be vary vague.

I was able to find a little more for the vary few characters from the Persona universe that will appear, so those characters may seem a little more fleshed out from a descriptive stand point, but might still be a little vague.

If anyone wants to send me better descriptions via PM, I'll gladly try and work them in if I can; that goes for both human and Pokémon characters.

second; and this is mainly for the Pokémon fans that will be reading this, please be aware that this story takes place circa 2011 in the real world time line, so any developments within the Pokémon games that proceed this time, (Black 2/White 2 and onward), will not be present within the knowledge of the main character; even though this story does take elements from the games all the way through the seventh generation, and not beyond that point.

With regard to time, while the knowledge of the main character stops sometime in 2011, the story actually starts on Friday, april first, 2005 in the Pokémon world.

This year was carefully calculated to allow sirtain animé characters to age in accordence with the needs of my story; even though some people would argue that character age is more or less irrelevant with regards to actual time and date placement.

I did this so some of my original characters would be the required age for the story.

This is my own take on the Pokémon universe; completely separate from the manga, games, or animé; even though characters from the animé incarnation will most likely appear over the game versions, as those are the characters I've had the most access to due to my disability.

Even though I will try to depict said characters in a faithful manner, please be aware that; due to certain legal restrictions that effect my ability to hear sound clips of the original Japanese version; I only have access to the English dub of the animé, so descriptions of how human and Pokémon characters will sound are going to be partially; if not mostly; based on this, even though I have no wish to be completely biased toward the English dub.

That being said, I feel I must point out that I have a fondness for the 4kids dub over the new Pokémon International dub; as that's what I grew up with and characters still sound the way they did in that dub; in my head; over the new one, so when conflicts arise between the 4kids dub and the Pokémon international dub, the 4kids dub is what I'll be using for the characters that appear in my story; Age discrepancies not withstanding, so please keep that in mind.

If you're reding this, and are not a fan of the Persona series, don't worry to much about it.

The required information will be given as it's needed in the story.

Regarding the character of Igor:

Due to his Japanese voice acter, Isamu Tanonaka, passing away of a hart attack in 2010, Atlus has chosen; out of respect for Mr. Tanonaka; to either write the character of Igor out of all events in the Persona game where he'd be needed, or reuse previously recorded lines for his appearances and have other people speak for him where lines do not exist.

While I mean no disrespect toward Mr. Tanonaka or his surviving family, this is a work of fan created fiction that exists purely as text, so Igor will be speaking within it.

Well that's it. I'll stop talking now and let the story begin.

attached

a pokémon/Persona Crossover fanfiction

By ThreeBlackNoises

Chapter 1

The room was always blue, and every artical of furniture within it was always covered in blue Velvet

these characteristics remained constant, even among the ever changing environs the room chose to emulate with each new guest it hosted.

At the time; however; the room feetured a single chair. on which sat the room's only occupant, an old man whose primary defining feeture was his extremely long noze

at least, that was the only thing his attendants who assisted him chose to remember; even going so far as to make up a song about it; which greatly annoyed him.

This man was known as Igor, and his face currently wore an expression of intense worry, as one of his three attendants had gone off on her own to sirch for a way to free a previous guest from a terrible fate.

At the moment, this same attendant had unknowingly opened the way to another world through a wish she'd made, and Igor was rightly concerned that her crossing over into a new plane of existance might have unpredictable consequences.

Presently, a door appeared out of nowhere, and a woman with light blonde hair and pale-skin wearing a dark blue dress and high-heals stepped through it before it disappeared into thin air.

"Your findings Margaret?" Igor asked the woman.

She focused her golden eyes on him as she said, "I can't find Elizabeth anywhere. Have you had any luck?"

Igor didn't waste any time on briefing his assistant.

"Your younger sister has found her way into a world whose people have a somewhat strange custom of breeding and training animals, which they call Pokémon, to help them in most tasks. I suspect this requires an unusually strong bond between person and Pokémon, and it's that bond Elizabeth wishes to understand."

Margaret didn't seem to surprised by this news.

"She still wishes to free Mokoto from the great seal he willingly became to save an entire world." Margaret explained.

"Her reasons are irrelevant at this time. You need to hurry and retrieve her before her presents their drags an unsuspecting being into her mess." Igor ordered.

Margaret knew not to question her master in such matters, so she simply let him conjur a door into the other world and hurried through it.

"please Margaret, hurry!" Igor said after she was gone.

I couldn't see much light, But I sure could hear a talking clock;

"It's 8, 24, PM." the mechanical voice of the Sharp Calculator intoned.

Eight years on four AA batteries at a time, and for almost twenty years

it was still a reliable time peace; the most reliable one I'd ever owned.

"Damn!" I said aloud. I had to rap this up and get ready to go to bed.

I was playing Pokémon Black, and I just had to finish up

tonight by battling "Mr. Gamefreak guy" whatever his name was in the US version,

and then it was lights out. Oh, I'm Michael by the way, I'm just your average late teen-aged Pokémon fan , and; despite my blindness; I've still been able to play the games and follow the animé.

I got into the animé first, and then I discovered I could play the games by using the wall bumping sound to define obstacles; and thus, shore-line my way through the game environments.

I wish I could tell you that a friend got me in to Pokémon, but that would be a lie. You see, when you are born with a label; more often than not; at about the age of 13 or 14, the folks who called themselves your "friends" split to hang out with "Normal People"; meaning in this case, sighted people. So, it was that I found Pokémon one Friday afternoon while home from school on a teacher in-service day. I was channel surfing when I came across the animé, and the first episode I saw was "The Breeding Center Secret." Needless to say, it took me almost the entire episode to get my bearings, but after that episode and about six months of catching up, I was not willing to stop following the show as I thought the concept was interesting. That, and the show had a lot of built-in descriptions.

I used the game's audio sound cues to navigate to the Gamefreak building,

and up the elevator I went. The sequence was so familiar by now;

out of the elevator, down, bump!, left one step, down, bump!, right two steps,

down, bump!, left one step, up, bump!, talk, click yes, advance text,

high-pitch wine! "What The Hell?"

This was not normal. I did a Soft Reset... Wow, it actually worked?

"stupid reboot time!"

Gamefreak Logo, press A, plink!

[menu confirmation sound?] I thought, "What?"

Footsteps from the 3DS. "So Young one..." That came from the 3DS!

It was a high, almost feminine-sounding voice. This was especially odd as the Pokémon games; in general; had no voice acting of any kind.

"You affirm today that you intend to abide by our sacred rules

and uphold our equally sacred beliefs?"

A much younger, less experienced-sounding voice came next.

"I do!" The excitement was palpable in the second, the "young-one's voice.

"and, as a member of our society, you hereby agree to be..."

a strange buzzing sound obscured the first voice.

"HOLD!" this deeper third voice didn't just demand respect, it seemed to expect it.

"It seems fate wishes for one final test to be presented to this aspiring youth."

The buzzing became a somewhat loud rumble. The third voice continued,

"Identify this anomaly."

There was a long pause, then the young voice somewhat hesitantly replied,

"it appears to be some sort of gateway, honorable high elder."

This was sounding strange; it had the same encoding as a standard 3DS movie from the Nintendo video channel ,

judging by its sound quality.

"It blocks my progress," young-one continued, "but I believe I can circumvent it"

"No!" I exclaimed. "Don't Touch What You Don't Understand!"

I tend to talk to the characters in movies that way; even though it's pointless.

This is Wise?" asked the first voice.

"this action could..." voice three began, "I know what I'm doing." young-one interrupted.

I heard some slightly heavy breathing from young-one, then an exhalation of some sort;

almost like someone made a really high jump, audible gasps from on-lookers maybe,

an explosion of some kind, a scream that was more surprise and curiosity than pain, the word "Trey!" yelled by at least three voices; somehow filled with both admonishment and concern, a somewhat muffled thud and then static.

My 3 DS went silent, and then I felt really strange before the world went completely silent and still.

The chamber was large, with a high-vaulted ceiling; according at least, to those inhabiting it.

Their were three at the moment, two were huddled at one end close together,

apparently in a discussion of some sort.

"It was his choice." one of them said.

This particular individual was old; older than his kind usually got.

He resembled an up-right rabbit with no tail. His fur was gray, almost black in some places,

though it might have once been pink. Some places on his body had no fur at all; leaving extremely loose skin with an almost rubbery texture somewhat thicker than a balloon. His face didn't betray his wisdom, but its distorted appearance; due to the wrinkles pervading his entire body; sometimes made his mood hard to decipher.

His companion; on the other hand; was the picture of youth. His taught skin was covered with an unblemished coat of fur that was about three times thicker than his senior's.

"I never would have interacted with something like this." he said gesturing to the anomaly.

"Daniel, we all make our own mistakes, in our own time, and, at our own pace." his father said.

In front of them was a dais used for conducting ceremonies. Dividing the room roughly in half

was a pink, glowing ribbon of energy. It spanned the entire width of the chamber,

though it only went about four feet up the chamber's walls.

Just then, the anomaly gave off a brilliant flash of light before exploding; depositing a human figure onto the dais.

"His just happens to be a big one, and much sooner than we would have anticipated."

"Oh dad..." Daniel said , "you are most definitely jesting, right?"

"Oh no, my son. That on the dais, is what is called, a, human."

Almost on the complete other side of the room was a prone individual;

almost identical to Daniel.

He slowly began to stir and become aware of his surroundings.

"Oh Trey, you have most definitely, erred." Said Xavior; the High elder.

Trey's POV

My eyes slowly opened, and I beheld the ancient chamber.

I was looking up at stone, and I felt it under me; so obviously I was thrown pretty far away from

the dais. I began to work my body into a sitting position.

"Oh Trey," Came Xavier's voice, "you have most definitely, erred."

The gateway! I realized, it must have thrown me back when I tried to jump it using Bounce attack.

Big deal; so what, it had unseen components.

Then I saw the dais, and my heart tried to use Bounce attack.

I knew I had to ask, but my voice would not obey my commands.

" you were right about making history by being the youngest of our kind

to attempt to achieve affirmed status," It was bad enough when Xavier spoke to someone,

but Daniel? and Xavier actually allowing the action? "poor, poor, sole,

you are now the only one who has made a bad enough mistake as to allow

a human into our midst."

Daniel was being a little more harsh than he needed to be. He was right, as a human; at least up to this point; had never intruded inside our sacred boarders, and this could potentially endanger all we had built here. I was shamed, but I also knew one had to finish what they started.

"honorable one," I began; using the honorific required by the ceremony still in progress; "I shall find a way to send the human home."

"It is most fortunate that the human has not come to itself as of yet." Xavier said.

What a relief! I could get it home and it would never have any memory of being here;

at least that was my plan.

"Honorable one, I respectfully request Psynet access ." [and gods help me

if the hive of minds it contained did not have the knowledge I needed.]

"Half and hour of access shall be granted." said Xavier. "Be quick." Daniel continued,

"We can sedate the human, but he will not sleep forever."

I bowed in thanks. "with your leave high elder?"

"so granted." he intoned.

And, as quickly as I could; courtesy permitting,

I made my exit and returned to my home without delay.

Arriving home, I found two unusual implements atop my bed, and a note from Xavier telling me they arrived shortly after the human. It also suggested that I should examine them.

What strange implements they were! one resembled a bright shiny stick that folded outward.

One end was tipped, and the other had a substance affixed to it which prevented slipping.

The other implement was... oh! something I could identify! a direction finder... maybe?

It had raised dots on three of the directions... and, if they were what was called Braille, I had to help this human, because he was most likely blind.

Psynet time was rapidly ticking away; I had to use it now!

I knelt in a corner of my dwelling and pressed my hand to a spot on the floor.

Immediately I felt the familiar contact with the hive-mind. This was the first time I had ever

used Psynet when not in training, and it still felt bazaar.

As a people, we were not strong enough with psychic powers to use them offensively,

but each of us still had just enough power to achieve limited telepathy;

with some assistance, of course.

"Well well well." said an unrecognizable voice that was simultaneously "a Voice", "The Voice" and "The Voices" of the collective of past and present Wigglytuff that had volunteered to be immortalized as a mental contact for the rest of the living, "What have you done?"

"I have erred." I began, "But, it might have been fate that such an action occurred."

(We know about the human.)

I shared more thoughts including the full details of my mistake and

my plan to help the human.

(Because this seems to be an act of fate, we can... 'arrange'

for a bit of amnesty to be granted to you.)

"it is my mistake."

(and you shall correct it young one, and, in so doing, you shall

also be able to see a grater world; something you have wanted for several years now. And, as an added bonus, you should also, hopefully, learn a few things about yourself in the process.)

"I wish to request any information you may have on"

(Yes we know, humans, but you shall find that as you walk your journey's path.

As far as your people know, we never had this conversation. You will tell High Elder Xavier

that you failed in your research attempt, and that you must take the human

on a journey to help 'it' find 'its' way home.

The human is named Michael by the way, and with a little good luck,

this conversation; and your error; never took place.)

A single voice then spoke to me.

(This turn of events is rather fortunate, as everyone can benefit from it. Xavier gets his chance to prove that humans are not as bad as most of his people believe they are, you get to see the world, Daniel gets to keep up his charade just a little wile longer, Tina can come into her own as; at present; she feels that she must devote all of her time and energy into the task of looking after you.)

Another voice; a much younger one; broke in, (It is win win for all.)

(Yes indeed.) the chorus said.

"Wait?" I asked as I felt the connection begin to brake, "How do you know Michael's name?"

A vary weary feeling invaded my mind.

(You are probably to young to have learned about the structure of the intelligent mind,) said a vary world-weary voice, (But, if the mind is compared to a pond, a life-form's given name floats to the surface once every few seconds or so.)

(Aside from that,) said yet another voice, (We are privy to all important ceremonies that concern the current leader. When ever some one has not requested Psynet time, the current leader is always connected to us, so that; if they need help at any time of day or night; we shall be their for him and or her.)

I felt the connection start to cloes, but I needed to know one last thing before it did.

(Please wait. I have one last thing I wish to ask.)

Their was a pause, as the hive of minds considered my request.

(Vary well. Proceed.) they finally said.

(I wish to know about Ruby. Is she still in the human world, and, can I rescue her? are my parents still alive?)

Their was a vary, vary long pause this time.

(Those are three things, Unfortunately, we are profoundly sorry young one, as we do not have the answers to your questions. We do, however, wish to render this advice. If you should find Ruby, do your best to make contact, and find out what situation she is in. Once you do that, you can start working on a way to extrocate her. See if Michael can help with that, if you can.)

With that, the connection was indefinitely closed. The finality of my quest;

and the path of my life wade on me as I made the trip back to the chamber

to finalize preparations for the journey, and my departure from my life-long home.

Before I made it to far however, I was intercepted by my older sister.

Her countenance told me that she, and probably the rest of the village, knew of my folly.

"so, you are leaving then?" she asked.

"I am afraid so"

She looked crestfallen. "If only our parents had not died while you were so young," she said,

her eyes filling with more tears than her kind usually used to filter out dirt and dust, "You would have had a good chance of avoiding this..." but her sobs prevented her from continuing for a time.

"Died or taken?" I asked.

A little laugh came through the tears, "one, or the other, or maybe, both," she said, "The village seems to basically be split down the middle on that verdict. I hope they were just taken by some human."

I held her until she calmed. "I failed you Trey."

"we failed each other, but" and here my voice dropped to a whisper, "My quest could be bigger

than anyone can know. upon my return, I shall be the closest thing

to a hero without actually being one."

"Please stop being so cryptic!"

"It must be this way. Tina, know that I shall think fondly of you"

"not mushy time now. Please!"

"I am just sorry that"

"no time. Take these instructions from Xavier and, please, follow them in order?"

"I always try my best." I took the instructions and read them.

Michael had been moved, and; apparently; I was supposed to 'befriend it' before leaving with him.

I turned on a sigh and began walking away.

"And what was That for?" Tina scolded as she had done when I was little.

I turned back to her and held out the instructions, befriend It...'

'...take It with you'" I said pointing to the words, "Honestly Tina," I touched her affectionately,

"They think humans will never change."

"no evidence? No case. You know that." She ruffled the fur between my ears. "Hay! Maybe you can bring back some?"

"I can hope."

"We can hope."

"You believe me?"

"well I cannot say I believe you." she moved really close to me and whispered,

"but I am not against you either. You know every Wigglytuff past her or his first month of life has

heard the bed-time stories about the humans and what they did to us, why their are hardly any mails left;

unless you think you can win one, do not start a fight."

"I shall have enough evidence to win said fight; I hope."

"I hope to, but we have no time for this now. Hurry and go meet Xavier."

I hugged her and gave her a kiss that made us both feel awkward, "by." I said simply.

I turned and began walking away, and I soon heard her close the door

to our... her home for almost the last time.

Michael's POV

When I came to, I knew something wasn't right. The bed I was sitting on was more... natural somehow. I also didn't recognize the room I was in either. It was relatively small; designed for only one occupant, and it seemed; judging by the feel of one of the walls; to be constructed out of logs and mud. _I didn't have much time to ponder my situation, as presently a door of some sort opened at the far end of the room, admitting warmth and some creature._  
_"Good, you are awake." it said._  
_I knew the voice! "Young One?" I inquired._  
_A laugh came my way, "Well, I am young sir, but my name is Trey. You need to come with me, sir."_  
"What are you?" I asked.  
He walked up to me, "A Wigglytuff." he said simply. I groped with my rite hand for him,  
"I'm sorry, but I can't see you and I am without my white cane. I need you to" a furry hand? caught mine.  
"This must all be somewhat of a shock to you, so take my hand, and I shall guide you to our destination."  
"Thank you Trey, this is vary much appreciated."  
We left the... Umm, building, and made our way through what I took to be a grassy village square complete with houses and shops; or at least some kind of business establishments, judging by the amount of chatter coming from them; and into a cleared out section containing, judging by acoustics; some kind of stone obstruction about six feet high.  
As we entered it, my suspicions were confirmed as I couldn't stand completely upright. My head brushed the stone ceiling, causing me to crouch as I walked. We approached a raised platform of some sort, and Trey mounted it. Two other, Wigglytuff, were their, and they had a hushed conversation I couldn't really understand. Apparently Trey and I were leaving on a journey of some kind; wait! these were the same two I heard on my 3DS! The older one gave Trey, money? maybe? and some parchment! Please let one peace be a map? If we at least have a map, I'm good. After the conversation ended, Trey led me out of the chamber.  
"hopefully Michael," he said as we began to walk, "this little quest will prove to them that all members of your kind are not as bad as our kind believe."  
"I take it my people haven't exactly been kind to yours?"  
"that would be under stated, a lot."  
"Maybe we don't know we're doing something bad." I said; trying to reveal both sides of the argument as we passed the place I awoke in.  
"hay! this is my stop!"  
"no," Trey said as we turned to walk between two lines of buildings, "I am taking you to my home while I pack. besides which, the penitentiary is no place for you."

Trey and I were both surprised upon arriving at his house as another Wigglytuff greeted him at the door.  
"I am so glad you are back!" it said. I judged this one was probably female by the somewhat higher pitch of her voice; maybe his wife?  
"I am only back for the time it shall take me to pack Tina. I have the human with me," he said as I crouched down to enter the house, and He closed the door behind us, "His name is Michael."  
As I sat down, Tina walked to me and shook my hand with a surprisingly firm grip!  
"It is vary nice to meet you Michael."

"Likewise." I replied.  
Trey began moving around the room, gathering belongings, and I was left sitting pretty much in the middle of the room feeling; I have to admit, somewhat confused. "Tina is my older sister." Trey said almost absent-mindedly as he packed. Tina turned to follow him as she spoke, "I found some strange things and put; oh you found them."  
"here." Trey said placing some objects at my feet, "These belong to you, I should think." I examined the objects; my folding cane and braille compass. They were some of the most useful things I could have asked for if I was to be taking a journey.  
"by the way,Trey, did the elder give you a map?" "no but; how do you know the Elder?"  
Trey was surprised as he stopped packing,  
"I heard some of your affirmation before I was brought here; you tried to jump the gateway, didn't you?"  
"Yes I did." Trey mumbled as he continued to pack.  
"How could you... I admit that I did not know all of the details of your incident, but I am now embarrassed to be..." Tina seemed to be working herself into a temper.  
"What's done is done." I calmly announced, and she seemed to calm.  
"You are right, Michael, but he still must pay for his, "mistake of judgment.""  
"And I shall," began Trey, "In a little public banishment show that shall take place shortly."  
"Public!" Tina gasped,  
"They must really want to rub your nose in it." I put in. They both seemed taken aback at this remark. "embarrass you, prove some point." I clarified.  
"That would be correct, and no, I do not have a map." Tray finished before stuffing some things into a small bag that he strung around his neck.

"I think that is everything." he declared, "I now take my leave." Tina and Trey then shared an awkward hug and kiss, and Trey headed for the door.  
He opened it, and Tina said her final good by as he left.

Trey's POV

I waited inside the affirmation chamber for my cue to be paraded in front of the citizenry for my 'mistake'.

Xavier came in and motioned me to the center of the chamber.

He took a few calming breaths as I approached him, and then he walked up to me and pressed against me until we were right in each others faces.

"Listen to me." he said in a barely audible voice, "As high elder, I am not supposed to adopt the point of views submitted by a minority or; in your case; one individual.

Concerning humans, however, I to, believe that our view on them as a people may be… well... outdated, to put it mildly. I am going through with this public banishment

show so as to make it appear to the masses that nothing is amiss. As your high elder, I order you to get to know this human so as to corroborate or abrogate our theories. Trey, do you understand and agree with this?"

Do to our proximity I was unable to nod, so I simply responded affirmatively.

He cleared his throat, "My image requires that I be somewhat… insulting during the proceeding little drama, so do not take anything to heart, but please appear to. If this"

"DAAAAAAD, It Is Way Past Tiiiiime!" Daniel's voice sang out.

"Daniel, such does not become you or your image." Xavier called back.

"He still acts like a little child sometimes." he said more to himself then to me. Addressing me he said, "Well it is time, time for both of us to; if I may use a human idiom, 'brake a leg!'"

He swiftly exited the chamber; leaving me once again alone.

A vary nervous Tina stood next To Michael; feeling slightly awkward as she tried to think of something to say.

Luckily, Michael seemed to know how to brake moments filled with tension.

"Tina." he said; holding out his hand which she took, "I'll take good care of your little brother."  
"You... will take care of My Little Brother?" she laughed; giving Michael a little kiss on the cheek, "thank you for that, however he is more than capable of taking care of himself, though, his combat knowledge is lacking even though his knowledge of said moves is not."

She let go of his hand, "So, at this time," she continued,

Leaving is the best thing that could happen to my brother."

"I'll make sure he writes you often." I said as I remembered the paper Trey received earlier.

"He had better. or I will make sure he regrets not doing so when he returns." Tina said; half joking, half serious.

Tina began moving to the front dor as she said, "We need to head out now."

Michael extricated himself from the house with some difficulty, then took tina's arm.

"I can at least make sure you do not come to any harm before you leave this place." Tina said as she began to lead Michael toward the center of the village.

Tina stood packed in with the rest of the Wigglytuff that had come to watch Trey's banishment.

Michael; stripped of all of his belongings; stood in front of the

affirmation chamber in a spot specifically chosen to keep him in plane sight of the citizenry.

Daniel walked to a platform beside Michael and addressed the crowd.

"People, the one who needs no introduction" Xavier came up behind Daniel.

"Stop right there, you will just make a fool of yourself, and by extension, me."

He then gestured for his son to take a place in the crowd; which he did reluctantly. Xavier then preceded to mount the platform.

"You have all heard the roomers by now." he began, "This hated creature called Human has been brought here by one of our own."

The crowd began its equivalent of booing and jeering; all except Tina.

"I give you the one responsible!" he made a grand gesture, and Trey was roughly shoved out from the chamber's entrance, and placed next to Michael.

The booing and jeering intensified. After a time, Xavier quieted the crowd with difficulty, and began explaining Trey's offence in brutally accurate detail; taking care to insult Trey's powers of judgment and intelligence at every opportunity. Inwardly; however; he praised the turn of events as a sort of back door method of undoing almost a century of lustful thinking about humans his people had seemingly adopted as unchangeable fact.

Xavier then explained that; with the help of a group of Wigglytuff; Trey and 'the human' would be teleported to an undisclosed location,

far beyond the boarders of the Wigglytuff village, and never again would they be allowed back inside its boarders alive.

This announcement brought a grate deal of cheering from the crowd, and Tina; unbeknownst to the uncaring mob; began to quietly sob uncontrollably.

Trey; for his part; took this with an air of stoicism; directing most of his attention to Daniel, who obviously took great pleasure in the entire event despite his temporary demotion to an average citizen. Michael absorbed all this with equal parts fear, curiosity and confusion.

A group of Wigglytuff detached itself from the crowd and made its way toward Xavier who motioned behind him. Another Wigglytuff came out of the chamber carrying Michael's belongings.

"We will now test our intended destination by teleporting these items to it." Xavier said as the items were placed on the ground and the group from the crowd made a circle around them. They joined hands and closed there eyes. A moment passed, and then a flash of light enveloped the items, causing them to disappear.

"Positive." the group flatly intoned as one.

"it is time!" Xavier cried. The crowd roared with approval as Trey and Michael were brought to the center of the circle.

They were made to stand almost together. The crowd went silent, and in that silence, Trey could hear Tina's sobs. He to, shed a tear as a flash of light engulfed his new friend.

"Positive." the group once again intoned. They then paused for a few seconds and then "Wait for it... Wait for it? Wait for it! And, NOW!" Another flash consumed Trey, and he to, vanished.

There eyes opened, and they dispersed.

The crowd roared with contentment, and; unknown to anyone else; Tina turned and ran toward her home; tears spilling from her eyes the entire way.

Michael's POV

I awoke in unfamiliar surroundings. I had no idea where I was, but I didn't have time to find out.

"Huh?" asked a female voice, "Where did you come from?"

"Well, where am I, exactly?" I countered.

"The Route 19 look-out." she answered briskly. "now my turn, where did you come from?"

"I don't know exactly."

"How can you Not Know Where"

Boom! The sound stopped her in mid sentence, and then Trey fell on top of me as we all screamed different four-letter-words.

"I came from his village." I finished.

"and that village is where?" she asked not unkindly.

"I don't actually know." I said."

"I do not know either. Sorry." Trey added.

"Okay the girl sighed, trying to get a grip on the situation.

"He needs to become a trainer, and to do that, he needs a real partner, for I am just his friend, and my name is Trey, madam." Trey explained.

"Bianca" she said, "Call me Bianca. madam is, like, way to formal."

I introduced myself as well, and Bianca seemed to be back in her element. "Well you can't start with Wigglytuff, using a third-stager as your starter is forbidden. You have to earn the privilege of having one either by evolving one of your current Pokémon into a third-stager or using one of your Pokémon to catch a third-stager. You'll also need at least one gym badge or two before you can use him in battles depending on his level, though you can travel with him as a sort of protecter if you have at least one badge, or permission from someone like my boss.."

I opened my mouth to reply, but was stopped by a sound I recognized; an Xtransceiver ringing.

"Speaking of," Bianca said under her breath before taking the call.

"Yes," she answered, "Your heading back right?" said a woman's voice.

"Yes, as soon as I figure out what to do with this young man and talking Wigglytuff that just exploded into my path."

"Exploded!" exclaimed the woman, "Or boomed, or poofed, or something like that. answered Bianca.

"Anyway the boy, Michael, needs a starter and Wigglytuff won't do so... well... Umm. help?"

"Nate and Hugh?"

"Already taken care of. I've still got two Unova starters, if you want to go that rout, but Michael would only have two choices, unless we used, 'the others'."

"All right. This seems to be a unique circumstance. He deserves unique choices, so We'll use the 'Others'. Just remember that you still have the Unova Pokémon to fall back on if the 'others' don't like him."

"You're Juniper!" I blurted out; pointing at the disembodied voice, "And your her sort-of assistant Bianca!"

"Full-fledged assistant now. Gees, where have you been the last two years? Living under a Gigalith?"

Now I knew where I was; based on the various clues I'd been given, but the route 19 look-out? That was new.

Trey had long-since removed himself from my person, so I climbed to my feet.

He moved away as Bianca removed something from her pockets"

"Call me when it's over?" Juniper asked before cutting the connection.

somewhat abruptly Bianca said, "Okay, pick one."

I must have looked confused, because after a moment Trey said "Michael, she has three Ball things in her hands. Just pick one two or three."

"Or you could pick 13, 138 or 203; wait! You're blind? Wow!" asked Bianca; obviously astounded.

"Yes I am." I said.

"This'll definitely be interesting." she said.

I suddenly had an idea.

"We seem to be on some sort of raised platform within a town, right?" I asked no one in particular.

Both Trey and Bianca confirmed my theory.

"There's only one way on or off of this platform?" I asked.

"I think I know what he has in mind." Trey happily said, moving; I gathered; to block the look-out's exit. Bianca seemed to catch on to, as I heard three vary loud sounds I recognized as Poké balls opening; one after another; from her vicinity.

"Okay, they're out!" Bianca Said, "Now, I guess we wait, and see what happens."

I crouched down to receive whatever came my way.

"Bianca?" Trey began, "I thought their were more than 700 Pokémon, has something changed?

"Not really, but they were consolidated so that their are now only about 380 or so. Basically all Pokémon in a single evolution line were combined into one number, You; for example; used to be number 40, but now you're number 15. This makes it so that new trainers; like your friend here; have an easier time digesting things."

As they were talking, a furry; somewhat chubby; creature climbed into my lap and, looked at me?

I reached out hesitantly and gently felt it; finding a tail and wings on its backside, as well as a curl of hair on its forehead in between Two long, roundish ears coming off its head.

The face was strange, as the poor creature appeared to have no nose and a... fang? coming out of the left side of its mouth.

It had two stocky arms that each ended in a three-fingered hand with two fingers and; I guest; an opposable thumb, and its stubby legs ended in feet that each had a single toe on it.

During this examination, the creature didn't move much, say for the occasional nervous shake and somewhat fearful breathing.

"What is this?" I asked, finding a lull in the conversation.

"A Clefairy, number 13. Her name's Hope." supplied Bianca. "and." she added, "She looks a lot like... Trey was it?"

"Yes Bianca." acknowledged Trey.

"Same type to." finished Bianca.

I gently hugged the Clefairy to me, enjoying the feel of her body until she suddenly spoke.

"I'm sorry sir, you seem like a really nice guy, but, I have, things, to do, and I don't think you'll be able to help me do them."

I started at her perfect speach as she used her hands to feel my face.

She then cupt my chin in her hands and staied vary still for a few moments.

"And, it doesn't look like I can help you either, so, we should just part ways here." Hope said before, sort of, hop/skippping away from me, causing Bianca to say; more to herself than to us, "so close, yet, so far." in a rather dejected way.

"She's second-stage," Bianca began, "but we thought, given your... situation, that we'd give you at least a chance for some leeway. The next two, however, are first-stage."

"So, why did you consider letting Hope travel with me then?" I asked,

"Well Clefairy used to be considered a first-stager until its first form Cleffa was discovered, So... we thought we'd give you a chance with her, seeing as she's... vary unique... among her kind. That, and she and Cleffa now have the same number due to the consolidation."

"I'm really vary sorry." Hope said again.

"Oh that's okay. I'm sure I'll..." I trailed off as something; quite literally; appeared in my lap. It was small and roughly humanoid in shape with smooth skin, but its hair covered its face making it impossible for me to get a look at its facial features. It had a horn or spike coming out of each side of its head which it preceded to press into my forehead; first from its left spike, then from the right. It held each of these positions for several seconds, and then it started to fill my mind with gibberish I was unable to make out. "I beg your pardon?" I asked. It then moaned despairingly before braking out in its own tung.

"Ra Ra Raltsss!" it wined.

"Why couldn't you be the one?" Hope asked.

At first, I thought she was scolding me, but upon further reflection, I realized she was simply translating the speach of the pokémon into english.

"ralts?" I asked.

The creature gave an afermative sound, so I continued.

"If you're asking why I can't understand what you just blasted at me, that could possibly be because I'm not from, around here. Keep your chin up though, I have faith you'll find who your ment to find before long."

The ralts made a sound before leaving the way it came.

"I think, he says thank you?" Trey translated.

"You're vary welcome." I replied.

"No dice.. Oh well." Bianca said. After some time she finally added, "You're the first person Ralts has allowed to touch. Oh, he's number 138."

We waited for about a minute before Bianca offered me a choice between the Unova Pokémon she had left; Snivy and Tepig, numbers 245 and 246 respectively.

I decided to give them a chance, so Bianca let them out as well.

We didn't have to wate to long for the results.

Both Pokémon must have taken one look at me and decided that I wasn't right for them, because I heard a snort and hiss; most likely from Tepig and Snivy respectively, before both Pokémon went back into their Poké Balls at the same time.

"Well, that was a bust." I said dejectedly.

I knew that their was still one Pokémon from the original three that hadn't bothered to show itself.

before I could ask what it was, I heard... what sounded like foot-falls proceeded by stumbling. or tripping, accompanied by quickly stifled laughter from Trey and Bianca.

"Piiip... Pluuuuup!" yelled a voice. I then heard wings flapping; and more stifled laughter; before something somewhat clumsily landed in my lap.

"Piplup Pip Piplup Pip plup Pip Piplup." it said.

"Oh you're definitely a Piplup." I said.

"You choose him as your trainer?" Bianca asked.

"Did you not just say that you hated him?" Trey asked.

"No! I hate trainers in general." Piplup said through Hope.

"That is how my people feel, though I am the exception to the rule. Is that how it is with you?" Trey asked.

"not really, but this guy needs help. and; reluctant as I am to be trained; I feel I can help him. Not to mention I'm the only choice left after the others denied him." Piplup replied once again through Hope.

She then climbed into my lap and just stood their.

While she did, I touched... a small rounded, down covered bird that had a small beak and wings that were more like flippers.

She suddenly let out a loud sigh in Hope's direction before saying something to her.

"I'll be fine sarah, just go." Hope said.

Sarah said something else, then walked a short distance away from me.

"Sarah. That promis was made when both of us were young, well, younger, and doesn't really apply now that we have a handle on my powers." Hope explained.

"But you need protection." Sarah said before walking back toward me.

I started at the fact that I could suddenly; somehow; understand Sarah's speach now that she wasn't almost in my face.

"I'll have it. Trust me, with my status, I'll have more protection than I want." Hope said as she walked over to stand next to Sarah.

"Besides, didn't you tell me a few days ago that you really wanted to trabel the world?" Hope asked in a whisper as Sara climbed back into my lap.

"Pipluuup!" Sarah said in a vary happy voice.

"I guess that settles it." Bianca said, "Sarah's your starting Pokémon. Here is her"

Sarah jumped out of my lap; making an elaborate jesture as she did so.

"No ball thingy. I walk by his side freely, or not at all. she declared.

"Picky." both Bianca and Trey said together.

"Picky? Yes? Proud? somewhat. Selfish... not so much; at least, not for me personally." Sarah said.

"Okay, we'll see how this works out." Bianca said, yet she still handed me the 'ball thingy' saying, "Just in case you need it later."

I retrieved my belongings, then stood and unfolded my cane.

"Hay that's neat!" Sarah exclaimed, "Your Wigglytuff is motioning you over to it."

"Sarah? His name is Trey." I said making my way over to him with the aid of his voice cues.

"That is my foot." he said calmly as I bumped it with my cane.

I followed the cane's shaft down to the furry foot; finding it bigger than I expected; and ran my hand up the front of Trey's equally furry body; noting that he was about three feet tall with stubby arms and big ears.

"You feel nice." I commented. At the same time, I wondered why I could suddenly understand Sarah.

Trey sighed at my comment before saying, "Nice, and, cute." in a stoic manner.

"Oh I didn't mean it like that." I said; feeling bad at agrovating an obvious nurve Trey seemed to have regarding his appearance.

"But I am a nice, cute, fluffy, pet." Trey said in the same tones.

"Only if you want to be." I said before turning to address Bianca.

"So, where to?" I asked; deciding the questions regarding how I could understand Sara's speech and those pertaining to Trey's issues could wait until later.

Bianca's Xtransceiver rang. "Yes, Sarah... sure... maybe Hope a little later... yes... Umm he's blind... so... Really! Okay."

"You two should head up route 19 to Floccesy town." Bianca said to me.

"Somehow, everything, trainer related will be taken care of there. I'm sorry I can't tell you any more than that, but Juniper is being kind of cryptic on that subject.

"I want you to attempt to make it their on your own." Trey began, "If you have not arrived in, oh, shall we say thirty minutes" "Oh please" interjected Bianca. "Half that should do it, and, well you really can't get lost. Besides which, the Pokémon are at a really low level, and you've got Sarah to help out on that front.

"Yeah?" sarah added uncertainly. We're going to hold on to Hope for a little wile; just in case one of you changes their minds and wants to travel with the other."

Oh, one last thing. If you run into anyone who wants a battle, just tell them you just came from Aspertia City, and you don't have a Pokédex yet. That should solve any trainer-related problems. It's not a vary big or long route," she continued, "so you shouldn't have any navigational problems.

During this conversation, Trey lead me down some stairs and through what I could only guess was Aspertia City until we arrived at some sort of little shack. As I examined it with my cane, Bianca explained that it was a gate house.

"There are a lot of them in Unova, so you should have plenty of help. I.. we have to leave now." she finished.

Trey walked away from me to stand by her saying, "So, good luck and a pleasant journey to you both."

With that they began walking away. I leveled my Braille compass flat and; opening it; I took my bearings

Finding myself facing north, I took the first steps of what I knew would end up being a long, strange, surprising and equally confusing journey.

"So, where is this new facility I'll be working from?" crystal Brightstar asked into the computer monitor.

The agent on the other end was not one to mince words, but Crystal needed to know where she was going so she could catalogue the region and mark it on her blacklist if her daughter didn't turn up their either.

"Unova, Aspertia City." was the only response from the agent.

Good, that wasn't on the list yet. Crystal knew her work would always keep her moving from region to region, city to city, but that it was a necessary prerequisite for the task of keeping the power of unquestioning obedience out of the hands of those who would use it for evil ends.

that's good," crystal said to the agent, but then, felt it necessary to add, "My daughter?"

Crystal knew that it was always a possibility that her daughter could end up in the hands of a really bad trainer, and; even though she'd decided she wouldn't interfere with her daughter's life, she felt obligated to keep tabs on her whereabouts, just in case.

The agent paused for some time, and Crystal began to worry.

"The Unova trainer network registered her as being captured by a trainer a few months ago, but things have taken a turn for the worst. That's also why we're sending you to Unova."

Crystal wanted to inquire as to her daughter's situation, but the agent wasn't done talking yet.

It just so happens to be convenient for your work as well, and you can use it as cover if need be."

Crystal was about to get vary angry; angry enough to fill her lungs with enough air to produce a sound of such volume, that everyone in the city she was currently stationed in would know her predicament regardless of if they wanted to or not.

The hulking form of Bella; her 'protector'; chose that moment to step in.

"Christina is not your tool!" she said in a slightly rumbling voice that was neither male nor female, deep nor high, but still carried enough authority to put power into her words no matter if she was speaking loudly or not.

"I know she isn't, that kinda came out wrong, but certain people will be less likely to question why crystal suddenly picked up and moved if her daughter's involved." The man on the other end of the line replied.

"That does make sense, but what's wrong with her?" Crystal asked; recovering a bit.

"I'm not going to say, but I've just sent you the details, in your own proprietary encryption method, of course." the agent replied smoothly.

Crystal knew he meant her own method of encryption that was unbreakable, even by military annalists, as it was technically illegal to have 256-bit, let alone 512-bit encryption unless you were working for the military or another government organization.

Given the nature of the information she was protecting, however, she'd deemed it necessary to develop her own method of encryption to protect it, and only allowed the people helping her with her work to have access to a program that could use its algorithms to encrypt data.

She checked her private inbox, found the message the agent had sent her, and filed it away to be decrypted later.

"The details of your assignment are also included in that message, so I'll talk to you soon okay? Lance out."

The line abruptly went dead; the securitty incryption protocols winking out as well.

Bella got up from her chair and began to clomp over to stand by crystal.

The two of them couldn't have looked more different.

Bella was an extremely tall; and also extremely pink; creature made out of either coral or rock, or maybe even a mixture of the two, but nobody; not even Bella herself; new the exact ratio of the components.

Her shell had a hard, grainy; almost pebbly texture, and it made every action she took make a resounding grading noise.

She had two appendages that extended from her two arms that were a cross between a claw and a hand, having five digits and an opposable thumb.

Each arm had an elbow and shoulder; just like a person, but the bones that defined such connections were hidden; if they existed at all.

Her legs were the same, except they ended in something almost like a human foot; just without toes.

Her face, was more like a ball on top of her neck. Their was no mouth to speak of, just a hole in the ball that showed her teeth and tun.

Where her bottom lip should have been, their was a kind of combination beak slash fork thing that might have let her cut food and the like, provided of course that she even needed to eat food at all.

She had no nose either; making it so she had to breathe quite noisily through her mouth.

She was presently doing such a thing as her body labored to walk over to crystal; her leg joints cracking with the rise and fall of each leg.

She didn't move like a robot in any way shape or form, though her motions were far from graceful.

Crystal; for her part; wasn't tall or heavy, but she wasn't really in either the fat or skinny camp either.

Measuring about five feet in the hight department, she came up to about bella's chest.

Her body was covered with a fur of medium thickness that was almost like sand paper to the touch.

She mostly resembled an over-grown mouse, but her ears were just slightly more prominent than the average mouse, and she had no whiskers either.

Unlike a normal mouse; however; she had no tale.

"well," Crystal began, "Guess you'd better get with bethany about where she's going to get her herbs and baries from." she finished.

"Guess so. we'll still manage to make our medicines no matter where we move to, so she'll be happy." bella said; unconcerned.

She then stood right in front of crystal, and gave an extremely exaggerated sigh; in which was hidden an infrasonic pulse.

From somewhere within one of Crystal's pokets, came a vary small beep that only she could here.

from out of said poket, she pulled what looked like a combination USB thumb drive and modern cigaret lighter.

"What are we going to do if you and I ever split up?" Crystal asked as she plugged the USB part into her PC and moved the incrypted file onto it.

"Oh you'll think of something I'm sure." Bella replied as Crystal pulled the stick out.

"You know this could have waited right?" Crystal asked; making a show of flipping the device around to the cigaret lighter portion and appearing to light up without actually using a cigaret.

"It's about Christina. You'll be bugging me to do the intro part of the decryption later if we don't do it now." Bella said pointedly.

The device responded as it would if it were a normal lighter, but Crystal blew some watery breath onto the flame; extinguishing it.

She then introduced more water into the place where the lighter mechanics were, and a small reservoir began to fill with her unique water before closing.

after a few seconds, the device began to beep, faster and faster; until it flatlined.

She then inserted the device back into her PC, and the screen blacked out before scroling numbers in multiple columbs down the screen.

unbeknownst to all except Crystal and Bella, these numbers were actually scrambled ASCII that only Crystal could decode.

She read the information, then stifled a scream.

"That bad huh?" Bella asked.

"some idiot trainer used the experimental speaking tM on my daughter! Now christina's out in the wild doing who knows what!"

crystal was fuming, but she took a few breaths to calm down.

"I'll pack as fast as I possibly can." bella said quietly before leaving the room.

Bethany? she called as she made her way down the hall.

"I heard about Christina. I don't think we currently have any potions in production, do we?"

The voice came from the level of Bella's feet. Approaching her from the other end of the hall was a small flower-like being who couldn't have been more than six enches tall at most, with pale skin and a rather frail appearance.

The Bellossom known as Bethany Porter wasn't known for her appearance, but for her talent with all things natural when it came to medicines.

Together, her and Bella made up the only two members of an apothecary business whose products rivaled those distributed by high-end pharmacies.

The fact that they moved around a lot actually benefited Bethany a great deal, as the quality of her products inspired many people to atempt to steal said products.

Living with crystal was a precarious arangement, though one that aforded both parties protection.

It allowed Bethany to run her business with bella's help; as she was to small to do any of the physical tasks required of an apothecary such as grinding and distilling herbs.

Bella could also act as backup protection for Crystal; who was no slouch herself, as she was in charge of keeping safe the vary items that could allow evil people to control powerful Pokémon without any resistance until a way could be found to destroy such items.

"It's a good thing to, because I can start packing all the glass bottles in towels right now." bella replied as she entered the room they were using as the apothecary's headquarters.

"I know I can't help you pack, but can I do anything to help?" Bethany's small voice asked.

"You sure can." Crystal said from the doorway.

"You can tell me how to organise all this stuff, again. I need to keep myself busy right now."

She looked in Bella's direction before continuing.

"I just started the shutdown process on all the electronics." She handed bella a set of keys.

"Could you do me a favor and pull the car around and start packing everything up while I deal with the delicate items?"

"Sure." bella said taking the keys.

She knew she wasn't the most graceful creature when it came to handeling brakable things, so she was more than happy to pack up crystals electronics instead.


	2. Chapter 2

attached

a Pokémon/Persona Crossover fanfiction

By ThreeBlackNoises

Chapter 2

"This is taking for ever!" Trey said as he and Hope stood next to Bianca at one of the many PC terminals in Aspertia's Pokémon center.

"Well most trainers don't have to, or even want to, do this Pokémon reservation thing. That and, well I've never done this before."

She was scrolling down a vary busy application form.

"We're waiting for Michael's trainer ID number" Her Xtransceiver beeped, "Oh, that'll be it." She said as she took it out, read a text message and then pocketed the device once again.

She used the PC's touch pad to navigate to a blank text field and entered the appropriate number.

"That should do it. Now you can't be caught by any other trainers; you officially belong to Michael... as far as Pokémon trainer law is concerned. As for actually 'belonging' to him, that's for you and him to work out." she said after the PC beeped.

"I don't have a flying Pokémon on me so we have to go to Virbank and from there to Castelia. We can check up on Michael wile we're at it as long as he doesn't see... Umm hear us. The bond between a trainer and his or her first Pokémon is vary important so I want... to... make... ..." Bianca trailed off as Trey's attention wandered.

Trey? Is something wrong?" Hope asked.

"I since Darkness where we sent Michael."

"Well, Purrloin live on route 19, but any Pokémon at Sarah's level should be able to take out a level 2 or 3 Pokémon without much difficulty." Bianca replied.

She said all of this as a series of prompts ran across the PC's screen; finally culminating in a list of Trey's stats along with several flags.

Pokémon species; Wigglytuff

Nickname: None

Gender: Mail

Type: Normal

Ability: Frisk

Height: 3 Feet 5 Inches

Weight: 25 £

Nature: Jolly

Stats

Level 80

Hit-points: 444

Attack: 215

Defense: 40 (Blue Flag)

Special Attack: 216

Special Defense: 180

Speed: 220 (Red Flag)

Next

"Your defense is 40? Ouch!" Exclaimed Bianca, "That's really low for your kind. Heck that's only about 20 points above a Blissey."

"I am sorry." Trey said.

"it's probably not your fault. Besides, aside from that and your really high speed, everything else checks out on this screen. Okay, next." She clicked the corresponding button.

Available Moves

Charm, Attract, Defense Curl, Teleport, Disable, Sweet Kiss, Flash, Fake Tears, Captivate,

Reflect, Copycat, Magic Coat, Scary Face, Mimic, Double Team, Protect, Wish, Substitute,

Role Play, Sunny Day, Rain Dance, Fling, Endure, Gravity, Rest, Snore, Sleep Talk, Pound,

DoubleSlap, Mud-Slap, Dizzy Punch, Drain Punch, Brick Break, Mega Punch, Strength, DynamicPunch,

Rollout, Dig, Facade, Body Slam, Double-Edge, Seismic Toss, Submission, Retribution, Mega Kick,

Take Down, Psych Up, Frustration, Snatch, Headbutt, Rage, Skull Bash, Work Up, Giga Impact, Bide,

Focus Punch, Counter, Swagger, Sing, Wake-Up Slap, Round, Echoed Voice, Perish Song, Detect,

Metronome, Curse, Covet, Natural Gift, Hidden Power, Secret Power, Present, Bounce

Number of moves remaining: 46.

No illegal moves detected

Verdict: Move-set is slightly above average for a Pokémon at this level

Back Submit

"You know a lot of moves!" Bianca exclaimed.

"Yes, but I still have a lot to learn." Trey said."

"Well Trey... oh, I forgot to put that in! Hang on a second."

She clicked Back and entered "Trey" into the nickname field. then she clicked "Next" then "Submit".

"Now we see if this actually works." Bianca said as "Please Wait appeared on the screen.

"So, about this darkness." Bianca probed.

"It just feels, well... wrong!" Trey exclaimed; groping for the right words.

"I could just be over reacting, seeing as my psychic powers are vary week, but I do not think so."

"okay, it must be vary strong darkness if your week psychic powers are able to pick it up, so once this finishes, we'll go check out route 19.

The screen now showed "awaiting verification", and a blinking caret.

Just then, Hope tapped Bianca on the leg.

"I can go to route 19 and check on Sarah now if you'll let me."

"I don't see why that'd be a problem, seeing as you should be able to take care of anything on that route without any difficulties at all." Bianca replied.

with that, hope left the Pokémon center; leaving Trey alone with Bianca.

"You're right; This is taking forever." she conceded; pointing at the PC after a minute or so had passed, and then she began to grope around for something to talk about.

"Umm, how did you learn to talk? Is that okay for me to ask?"

"Oh yes, I was in training to be a sort of diplomat if our village ever came under attack by humans. and, no, not all Wigglytuff; in fact, not all Pokémon can talk either, and some are better at it than others; especially if they learn to do so of there own free will, rather than being forced to do so for another being's convenience."

The PC beeped and showed a vary crude graphic of a Wigglytuff along with Trey's stats in a small window at the top of the screen.

The rest of the display was taken up with the seals of the various leagues; all encircling the much larger ceal of the national champion's league, and the message "Specimen approved".

Below this rather glorified banner were two other indicaters.

The first was an image of what appeared to be three badges of some kind.

The other; linked to the first by an arrow; was an image of a scull, a clock and the words "30 hours remaining for cool-down"

Trey took in a breath that inflated himself several inches, then he used his hands to pull himself up to look at the screen before screwing his face up in concentration.

He then eased himself down, thought really hard, deflated himself, then said; vary slowly, "Thirty what?"

Bianca was astounded. "You can read to?"

"As far as human language goes, I can only read numbers at this time. The rest of my training will have to wait until I return home." Trey explained wistfully.

"That means even if Michael caught a third-stager rite now, you'd still have to wait until late tomorrow night before you could battle. And those badges mean that because of your high level, Michael would need three gym badges before he could use you in battle. And not even my boss can get around that restriction, jus so you know."

She clicked the X in the top right of the screen, and the PC shut down with a low mellow beep.

She then turned to leave, and Trey followed her out into the city as they headed for route 19.

As they reached the gate-house however, Bianca flushed in realization and ran back toward the Pokémon center saying "Oh Crud! I forgot to give him any Poké Balls! This will only take a second."

About Five Minutes Earlier...

Michael's POV

I walked into the gate house and was greeted by a receptionist who gave me a spray bottle of potion.

She Complemented me on being bold enough to train Pokémon with my disability, and I thanked her.

She then showed me how to use the potion, and told me to use it if my Pokémon got hurt.

I thanked her, she wished me luck, and Sarah and I headed onto route 19.

As we moved down the sloping road, Sarah and I noticed how quiet things were.

"This feels wrong." sarah quietly observed.

I agreed as we kept walking. I suddenly heard a quick flash of movement, and my danger sence began firing on overdrive.

I didn't know what could be wrong, but my first priority as a new trainer was to think of my new Pokémon friend Sarah before myself.

So I bent down to pick her up.

Hay Sarah?" I began quietly as I got into position.

"Maybe we should"

but that was as far as I got, because Sarah screamed as a quick body blow of some kind sent both of us to the ground. In the process, I dropped the potion on the ground where it broke open, but that was the least of my worries.

A quick tearing sound accompanied by a gasp from Sarah saw the unidentified creature heading back the way we'd come.

As a small sidenote, I did mannage; through no fault of my own; to thwack the creature pretty good with my cane as I went down.

I only know this because the creature gave a loud yowll of pain as it ran off.

"Oh that's just great!" I sarcastically said as I found my feet and sarah crawled into the mess that had been the potion.

"My front is ok, but my back." she said.

"I could put you in the Poké Ball, and then" "No!" Sarah said, and then seemed to amend with "I mean, that could make it worse, couldn't it?"

"I don't know, Is the wound vary deep?" I asked.

"Sort of, he got several inches of skin, maybe some meet, and I know I lost some blood."

I knelt beside her, but had no idea what to do.

"I guess I'll have to carry you to" something ran into me from the side. "If you carry her, that wound will never heel properly, seeing as it covers most of her back."

I started, at first, but then realized It was just Hope.

"Hope? What are you" Sarah began.

The Clefairy put her hands on either side of Sarah's wound and proceeded to blow air around it. When she was done, she ordered Sarah to stand. Somehow;, amazingly, the wound held closed.

"What did you do to me?" sarah asked.

"I'll tell you a little later. Now, in your ball, hurry." Hope said.

She took something from behind her as I placed sarah's Poké Ball on the ground in front of her. sarah protested, but eventually complied; disappearing with a loud poof.

"Okay" Hope said; turning to me, "Now it's your turn to listen to me."

She handed me something resembling a large grapefruit.

"It's primed. Now, when I tell you, catch me. Once I'm in the ball, call Sarah out and keep her still. Everything else will take care of itself."

"What did you do?" I prodded.

"Okay, I blew a sheet of molecular paste onto her wound. It came from inside of me because it's part of me and my unique... ability. Once the healing process is complete, the sheet will essentially replace Sarah's meat, skin, down and blood. If I'm lucky this will only take about an hour off my natural life span... Okay, ready?"

She said all of this really fast in only one breath. She then leaned against me on my right side, and I nodded yes; not sure what else to do.

"You have to be fast." she said before bowing her head as if in prayer.

Suddenly, a strange sound filled the air as she raised her head and said "Now! Go Go Go!"

I lobbed the grapefruit-sized Poké Ball at her.

It connected and sucked her inside with the same loud poof as if it were calling an existing creature back; though it did so in a somewhat unusual way. It shook violently as it drew her inside of itself before shaking on the ground for about nine seconds. it then made a loud snapping sound.

Taking that as my cue to continue, I released Sarah from her ball into my arms.

"Pip Luuuuup." she said as I held her.

"If you're saying that it hurts, then I know, but Hope says something's supposed to happen and that you are to stay still."

"Pip Pip Lup Pup Lip plup, Pup.." she said.

I didn't really understand her language, but it almost sounded like she wanted me to put her down.

I complied, and we waited for something to happen.

A few moments later, it did.

Sarah began complaining of an itch in her back as a strange simmering sound filled the air along with a strangely ethereal sound like the idea of distant music.

At the same time a vary unpleasant smell reached me. It was like someone had crossed burnt rubber and wet dog.

Mixed in with the "music", I began to hear something that distressingly reminded me of curdling milk.

I was grossed out, but the sounds died away rather quickly, and the wind soon blew the smell away as well.

Hope popped out of her ball and showed signs of being a little worn out.

"First time, replacing skin and meat, wasn't to bad." She said before addressing Sarah.

"How do you feel?"

Sarah was overjoyed. "I feel fine! And No scars at all!" she exclaimed.

"Well not exactly. Welcome to being partially pink." Hope said to Sarah. She then felt the need to add,"The area where your wound was will be pink for about half an hour."

"I can deal with that. Are you okay Hope?"

"Just a little tired. Aside from that, I feel fine. And before you ask, the whole getting tired thing will stop once I get used to the process and these healing stunts don't take as much of my energy." Hope explained.

"I can't believe you had to blow that paste onto Sarah's back." I said.

Hope explained that the normal procedure is to use an elemental attack the target is strong against to deliver the reagent.

Given Hope's low level and Magical Leaf subsequently being her only elemental attack; which would have injured Sarah even more; her only recourse was to deliver the reagent at close range using an extremely primitive method. She told me that more experienced healers could use their hands to deliver the reagent, but at her level the paste; a derivative of the transform attack; could just as well make her hands have the same wounds as Sarah's back, become something unrecognizable or; in the worst-case scenario; take them away forever.

I told her it was still gross, and she agreed saying that if I wanted to know more, she would be glad to talk about it later.

remarkably, sarah kept pace with us as we started along the route

"So how'd you know we needed help?" I asked Hope as we walked.

"You have Trey to thank for that. His week psychic powers detected something on this route, and I agreed to come check it out." Hope explained.

We then talked about what to do regarding Sarah's unknown attacker, and we eventually decided to report it at a Pokémon center.

Just as we reached Floccesy town, we ran in to Alder; the Unova Pokémon league champion;and told him about the thing that gave Sarah her injury.

He told us that trainers could submit reports of unusually strong Pokémon using a Pokédex or a Pokémon center.

I then asked him if Floccesy had a Pokémon Center, and he pointed me and my Pokémon in its direction.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by someone calling himself Cedric.

He apparently was the daughter of Professor Juniper, and he worked on advances in Pokédex technology.

"It's your Pokédex." he said, handing me a somewhat bulky device that resembled a king-sized Nintendo DS.

"NOW, normally I'm not vary persistent that trainers try out their new Pokédexes right away, but seeing as this particular model has never been used before,"

As he spoke, I opened the device and saw why he was curious about its workability. It had four lines of ten Braille cells serving as the device's screen. I read:

Pokédex V 5.8 ready!

To use, point the Pokédex at a Pokémon.

For advanced features, use the Braille keyboard to navigate the menus.

For help, press F1 located above dot 1.

I marveled at the care that went into this Pokédex, and decided to test it out immediately.

"Hay Sarah, come here a second please."

As she stood in front of me, I crouched down and ran the Pokédex over her.

"Hay! Not so close."

"Oh, sorry." I said as the Pokédex gave a ping sound before saying...

"Piplup, the penguin Pokémon

Piplup live along shores in northern countries, so their thick down guards them against the cold weather.

As they are skilled swimmers, they can dive for over 10 minutes to hunt.

Because they are very proud creatures, Piplup hate accepting food from people. Do to being poor walkers, they often fall down. However, a Piplup's strong pride will make it puff up its chest without a care.

Piplup can be difficult to bond with since they don't always listen to their Trainer."

I saw this same information on the Braille display along with other info such as physical measurements, moves learned, future moves and a lot of other details."Well, I don't have to baby you at all!" Cedric exclaimed, "This makes my job easier."

I also checked Sarah's level, and I was amazed to see that her tussle with Liepard gave her enough experience to raze her to level 8.

The staff had there hands full taking care of all of the injured Pokémon from that day, so I returned my Pokémon to their balls and placed them in a cue for healing.

About that time, a nurse finally came out of the back rooms and noticed us.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, may I help... Oh hey Cedric. Showing another new trainer the ropes?"

"No, not really. This one knows what he's doing, and if you're free now, I can leave him in your capable hands."

"I'm finally on desk duty, so sure."

The nurse checked her e-mail , and Cedric said good by and left.

While she had her E-mail client open, I told her about the unusual Pokémon we'd encountered on route 19.

The nurse told me that said unknown attacker had already been reported by Bianca, identified as a Liepard, and captured by Bianca; with the help of a vary strong Wiggltuff; as it entered Aspertia.

The nurse also told me that she'd received another E-mail regarding Hope, and that the Clefairy would be returned to Bianca when she stopped by later, and sarah would be returned to me once her wounds were healed.

as she scanned my Pokédex, I told her that was fine as I wished to do things the proper way and; if it was possible; actually have a battle with Hope and earn the rite to catch her.

After confirming my identity, she told me I had a balance of $3,000 .

I learned that all trainers had their own personal debit account, and all monetary transactions were handled with a trainer's Pokédex so that money couldn't be destroyed if a Pokémon attacked a trainer, and also so that a trainer couldn't demand more money than was customarily allotted for winning a battle.

She asked me if I wanted to buy anything; seeing as she was both nurse and cashier, and I told her I'd most likely buy some stuff before I left in the morning.

I learned that; being a beginning trainer; I was entitled to one free nights stay, and If I wished to challenge the gym in Aspertia, I could stay one more night for free in either this center or Aspertia's. If I still needed more time to train, I could stay in either center for one more night at half price.

I asked about tonight's rooming arrangements and was told that one empty spot remained.

I decided to take it; not like I had a choice, and was told I'd be staying in a room with a person named Liz.

The nurse told me how to get to the room in question, and I showed myself to it.

Liz turned out to be a petite lady, judging by the height of her voice as she asked, "So am I correct in assuming you're trainer Michael?"

"More like beginning trainer Michael," I answered.

"I'm Liz, and you shouldn't stand in the doorway like that. Come in, and take a load off."

"Don't mind if I do. You have no idea what kind of day I've had." I said walking into the room and closing the door behind me.

The room was basically split down the middle with a bed on either side.

I sat on the right-most bed and placed my few possessions under it.

"Eventful? Liz asked as she came to stand in front of me and waited there as if looking me over.

I nodded at her as I tried to figure out if I should even ask what she looked like, or if I could look at her with my hands the way she was obviously doing with her eyes.

"He's not much to look at," came a voice slightly higher than where Liz's had come from.

"Still, he's easy enough on the eyes."

"Basically, that means Christopher likes you." Liz explained.

"But Christopher sounds to stuffy, so I like to be called Chris." He said.

"And you are?" I prompted.

"You can touch me, go ahead, I want to see if you can guess what I am."

"Liz?" I asked; not knowing if she'd be as okay with the arrangement as Chris apparently was.

"It's okay. After all, chris and I stood here and looked you over for almost a minute. Your hands are your eyes, so go ahead and use them to look at us if you want."

I couldn't believe I was sitting here, with a woman in front of me, telling me it was okay to touch her.

So I started with her arms; which were covered by something resembling crushed velvet; and worked my way upward.

By the time I got to her shoulders; aside from realizing she was really skinny; I saw that the velvet thing was actually some kind of dress.

I paused at her face; unsure if I should continue any farther, but; seeing as she made no objections; I moved my hands up her face toward her ears.

I stopped their, as I discovered some kind of spiky cartilage that turned out to be her ears.

Liz gave a rather protracted sigh at this, but didn't say anything yet.

So I next ran my hands down her front; being extremely careful not to touch her breasts as I did so.

before I got to them however, I encountered what felt like a spike of somekind sticking out of her chest.

Now I knew what she was. Not a human at all, but a Pokémon called Gardevoir.

In the games, Gardevoir were touted as being extremely loyal to those humans they chose to designate as friends.

They were also psychic types, and that meant they could define threats faster than any human protecter ever could.

as an ordinary blind human now in the Pokémon world, it was vary possible that lots of sighted people with mean intentions would want to mess with me in unsavery ways, and having a Gardevoir on my side would be a giant help.

I also couldn't escape the irony that a Gardevoir had been the first Pokémon on my in-game team back in the real world, and that I was now being given the chance to have one here as well.

I opted however, to let events unfold as they wished, and even if this Gardevoir wasn't with me in the morning, at least she'd spoken to me for one night.

Chris suddenly began to snicker, and I realized; with a start; that I'd been touching Liz's chest spike way longer than was permitted.

"It doesn't work on hands, Liz." he said pointedly.

What doesn't?" I asked; gently removing my hands from Liz's spike, but also forgetting to look at Chris.

Liz sat down beside me on the bed before saying, "the illusion." After pausing for about twenty seconds she said, "I happen to be a Gardevoir."

"And yet you pose as a trainer?" I asked; not missing a beet, but also trying to decide weather or not to tell her I was actually from another world.

"You're not surprised?" she asked; sounding vary slightly amazed.

She had such an easy-going manner that I decided to just be open with her.

That, and, on reflection; as far as I knew anyway; psychic Pokémon could always tell if a person wasn't telling the truth.

"Liz, after being dumped from my world into a game I was playing, getting gibberish blasted at me by a Ralts, holding said Ralts, a Clefairy named Hope and a Piplup named sarah, getting Sarah as my starter Pokémon, having a Liepard literally rip Sarah's back open and having Hope heal sarah with molecular paste, and that's mostly the normal stuff.

If you throw in the time I spent in the Wigglytuff village then no, I'm pretty much surprised out today."

Liz's mouth was hanging open.

"Wow!" Chris exclaimed, "You did have an eventful day.

"If you were to be my chosen trainer, life wouldn't be vary dull." Liz said.

"That's an understatement, but how does a Gardevoir find out if a person is there chosen trainer?" I asked.

"Depending on the ethics and scruples of the Gardevoir in question, several methods exist, ranging from the three second mind attack that can easily kill a human, to the several year-long befriending approach. What I'd like to try is something in between. You mentioned that you had 'gibberish blasted at you by a Ralts' today, well I'd like to try the same thing."

"No offence, but it would be kind of weird for us to be seen sitting in each other's laps." I said finally looking at Chris.

"Not to mention your Pikachu? might find it a little unsettling to watch."

"I am. Good guess." Chris said.

"Oh no. Despite the fact that our feeling spikes are located on our chests and back,all that is required here is a hug, or something vary much like one." Liz explained.

"That, I feel comfortable with." I said as someone knocked at the door.

Opening it, I was greeted by a high-pitched voice saying "Room service?"

"Trey?" I asked.

"Yes, in the flesh, so to speak. Our friend Bianca is currently occupied with the issue of who Hope now belongs to, so I asked her if I could deliver these to you. That, and I wanted to see you one last time before heading to Juniper's lab."

As he was saying that, I heard Liz get Paged to answer a phone call. I thought that a bit odd, but decided to let it pass unnoticed for now.

Trey gave me a package he was holding and exchanged introductions with Liz and Chris as they left. Opening the package, I found ten Poké Balls.

"Those are what Bianca was supposed to have given you when you left Aspertia, but; sadly; she did not have any more packages like that one on her after the other two trainers got there share." Trey said stepping into the room and shutting the door and standing before me as I sat back down on the bed.

"I really have not had a chance to tell you this." he began. "but, even though we were thrown together through happenstance, I really, really want to be the best friend I can be to you. Not because I have to for my people's sake, but because I want to for my own sake as well. I cannot get any stronger than I am right now unless I travel the world, partnered with a trainer with good morals and of good character. Unfortunately, I cannot do that with you unless you"

"I know, catch or evolve a third-stager." I said dejectedly.

"Or have a second-stager and earn two badges. With three badges, you could use me even without a third-stager." Trey finished as someone else knocked on the door.

"It's open." I said. Bianca walked in and gave me two Poké Balls.

"Well, you're now Hope's owner." she said. "She joined you of her own free will, and besides, her Healing Wish technique wouldn't have Saved Sarah unless you caught her properly. So, I guess you're stuck with Hope, weather the two of you want each other or not."

"You sound like you're ready to get rid of her."

"More like, I'm ready for her to have a more competent trainer. You see, I'm not that good at it, though I'm not bad at it either, but I'm definitely not anywhere near champion material or anything remotely close to that."

"Where did Hope come from?" asked Trey.

"The Giant chasm. As strange as it sounds, some trainer dropped her off at the lab because they didn't want the extra burden of having a rare Pokémon with them. They either caught Hope because they felt sorry for her being born in an area that gave her little chance of survival, or they just felt Duty-bound to save her. You see, most trainers think it's a requirement that they save helpless Pokémon, but it's really just strongly encouraged.

Either way, you're the first person she's actually volunteered to help."

"and Where did sarah come from?" I asked.

"I'd tell you, but she, really needs to talk about this with someone and get past it. I think, she, might, tell you and your friends, more than she'll tell Juniper and I. It's actually kind of, sad." she paused to take a breath, then said, "but it's part of the world we live in." in a more up-beat way.

She paused a moment before saying that she had to be on her way, and that Trey would be waiting for me at Juniper's lab, and all I had to do to summon him was log in to Juniper's PC from any Pokémon Center and request him to be transferred over to me.

I promised Trey I'd try to retrieve him ASAP, but I was going to take my time training Sarah and Hope first.

He said that was a good idea and wished me luck before bidding me good by as he and Bianca started to take there leave.

"Hay Bianca?" I asked before the door could close.

I heard her turn back to face me, though she didn't acknowledge me out loud.

"What's to become of the Liepard?" I asked.

"Oh, that's up to the Pokémon rangers now. why?" she said calmly.

"well, I was wondering if it could be assimilated into a Liepard habitat or something."

"They'll probably fly Liepard's Pokéball over one such habitat and release it their." she responded.

"Oh well that's ok then. That's all I wanted. good night you two." I said before her and Trey bid me the same and left for real this time.

Liz and Chris returned a short time later, and Liz told me that Thomas; her trainer; had contacted her. She told me that if the two of us didn't match up as chosen trainer and Gardevoir that he'd be here to pick her up in two or three days.

"do the two of you not work out or something?" I asked sitting back on the bed as Liz did the same.

"We're okay, as battle partners, but we'll never be anything more, seeing as he's not into being all touchy-feely and stuff. And if you and I do match up, we could work so much better together than he and I ever can, do to the added mental bond you and I would share"

"So what do we do?" I asked as Chris climbed off her head.

"Put your arm around me and lean in like your going to be told a secret. After that, we wait and see what happens." she explained.

I did as instructed and leaned in close enough to feel the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed in and out, and was also close enough to actually hear her exhales of breath directly in my ear; though I chose to not be turned on by it.

"Now, I don't know what you'll hear, as the part of my brain that does this is still in Ralts mode so, just be ready for anything." she whispered into my ear.

"Now, I'm going to close my eyes, and then we wait."

She must have done so, because her breathing slowed slightly.

Liz, Chris and I then waited to see what would happen next.

It wasn't words, but feelings. Extreme hatred, profound sadness, and a strong since of longing.

"What do you hate?" I asked.

"Mostly people who think Pokémon are tools." Liz answered.

"Why are you sad?"

"Because, as Gardevoir, we're sort of made to require companionship, and, unlike some Gardevoir, I really long for it.

That, and until now, I had no idea what that felt like."

"That explains the feelings, but I thought their would be a"

(Life can suck sometimes.) I heard in my head in a younger voice than Liz had used in person, to which I replied with a laugh, "Sometimes it can."

"You heard it!" she said, then almost as an afterthought she added, "Chris, it's happening."

We didn't get anymore of an explanation, as Liz promptly passed out on the bed.

"What does she mean?" I asked after we had settled her in.

In short, it means she finally found her chosen trainer, and she's going to spend the rest of the night going through a mind reconfiguration." Chris answered after a brief pause.

"So the part of her mind that was in Ralts mode is being made usable?"

"Sort of. It's more like that part is being made compatible with the rest of her mind."

He made a long slow Kaahh sound.

"Something wrong?"

"Just nerves I guess." he said; pausing a bit before continuing.

"To be blunt, a part of her just died."

I must have looked crest-fallen, because Chris climbed into my lap and hugged me as good as he was able to.

"Hay, it's okay. In this case, it's a good kind of death." he said; putting his arms as far around me as they would go.

"That's funny, because the only good death I've ever known is when something is suffering so much that death would be doing it a favor." I said.

Chris took his arms off me from the hug and put them on each of my shoulders as he stood up

to his full height in my lap; putting us almost face to face.

"As far as I understand it, Gardevoir don't fully mature until they find their chosen trainer, so, in a way, I guess you could say she was suffering."

He awkwardly patted me with his paws, then sighed in a sort of discontented way.

"I'm not good at this, comforting thing, am i?"

"How often have you done it?"

"Umm, this is my first try comforting someone I really want to care for." he said shyly.

"Not that I don't care about everyone I try to help and comfort!" He said; back-pedaling furiously.

"In other words," I said with a slight chuckle, "I'm the first person you want to make a permanent part of your life? After Liz I mean?"

"Yes!." he said with relief evident in his voice.

"Well, for your first try at really comforting someone, your not doing to bad. Don't worry, you'll get better with practice." I said encouragingly.

"It's a good thing you didn't get to know Liz vary well, seeing as she'll be changed somewhat after she wakes up."

"What do you mean?" I asked, somewhat perplexed.

"Well, the Ralts part of her did effect her personality in mostly small ways, but there is always the chance that something major was effected as well. When Gardevoir fully awaken, they go into a sort of trance and reevaluate their life up to that point from an objective perspective and make any changes to their outlook and personality they see fit to improve their over-all quality of life."

"So tomorrow when she wakes up, she could be a totally different person, Hence, your nervousness, right?"

"Yes. right now, she's my only friend Michael."

I began to pet chris on his back as I asked, "So, since she found her chosen trainer, does that mean we're going to be bonded soon?"

"Not necessarily. I mean, not that you are or anything but," He said; obviously nervous, "What if you were a criminal or something?"

"Oh, I see where this is going. What if a Gardevoir's chosen trainer turns out to be a total scum bag, They could just not bond with that person, right?"

"Oh! I like a quick thinker! And, yes, you're right. Tell you what, Let's not worry to much about Liz until tomorrow. Let's just sleep on this and see what tomorrow holds."

"Now that, is a good idea." I said.

I explained that I'd been up for almost 20 ours and needed to get sleep. I expressed my concern that Chris no longer had a place to sleep and was told he'd sleep near me but not with me.

I decided to leave my Pokémon in their balls for the night and work with them once I had a clear head in the morning.

As we bedded down, I reached for Chris' paw and smacked it saying, "To the unknown, right?"

"He gave a good-natured laugh before saying, "That's one way of putting it. Well good night."

I wished him the same before laying down and; almost instantly; falling into a deep sleep.

Morning came quickly as I had no dreams to disturb my slumber.

I awoke to find Liz already awake and pacing back and forth across the tiny room.

"It's Chris." she said without preamble; trying with great effort to keep her voice calm.

"What's wrong with him?" I asked.

"He evolved in his sleep." she answered.

"And that's bad because," I said, not understanding the situation.

She stopped right in front of me and, I could have sworn she looked me directly in the eyes when she said

"He may not have his memories anymore, and I didn't ask him enough about his life to be able to help him restore his memories if something like this happened."

"How could he lose his memories just by evolving in his sleep?" I asked, somewhat perplexed.

"It's called dream walking. Effectively, the act of dreaming erases the victim's memories of there passed life." Liz explained.

I cupped Liz's face in my hands, "Don't beet yourself up over it. It's not like you could have known something like this would happen."

"But I should have prepped for something like this, he is my friend after all. He started out as a prop so I could pose as a trainer, but I've really come to care for him now. That, and, he needs my help, just as I need his."

She started to breathe heavy and rhythmically, and I felt a tier slide down her cheek.

"I promised myself I wouldn't cry in front of someone," she said, her voice shaking with the effort of keeping it calm.

"But I feel like I've let him down because, he's, not, normal."

"Don't hold back your tears, you can cry in front of me if you want. Besides, what's done can't be undone in this case. If he's lost his memories, then that'll be that. We'll just have to take things one little thing at a time together." I said.

Now Liz really did cry, completely and openly. She didn't wale or even really sob , but tears definitely flowed unbidden.

"That's cute, the way you're so selfless." she said trying to control her tears.

"That's just who I am. Besides which, I like you and Chris, even if he no longer remembers his life, I want to help him become who he now wants to be."

"And you don't even know us that well yet." Liz said with a small laugh, leaning in even closer than before.

"Though I'd like to, and I thought Gardevoir didn't cry."

"Only when we're very moved, or when we feel like we've let ourselves, or those we care about down."

I began to wipe the tears from her face as I said, "I kind of feel responsible for what happened to Chris as we slept near each other last night."

"I guess we'll just share that responsibility then." she said calming somewhat.

"Just being in the same room with him could have done it, but I have my doubts about that. It probably just, happened." she said somewhat distractedly.

"It doesn't matter now, it's done. But what were you saying about him not being normal?" I asked.

"Well he's not like any raichu I've ever seen." She explained.

"well regardless of what he is now, he'll have the two of us to help him." I said with finalitty.

"What about the two of us?" she asked after a moment's pause.

"I guess you can call your other trainer, because I'm sticking with you." I said.

"I'm to involved now to just walk away. Your Ralts mind is gone and Chris is now some kind of Raichu; not to mention possibly an amnesiac. Sarah now has a strange scar from a weird healing spell Hope used on her because of my inexperience as a trainer, so yes, I'll be sticking around for a good while."

"Um, what time is it anyway?" I asked after a brief pause.

"Just half passed six." Liz answered without checking a clock, or at least she didn't turn her head to do so.

We sat their for a few minutes, enjoying each others company. I reached up and put my hands on her face before asking; somewhat nervously, "So Liz, how do you feel about being trained by a blind man?"

She gave a slight chuckle as she said that it was a "novel idea." and that life would be "without any dull moments for the foreseeable future."

I said I'd been told the same thing in more words by people since I arrived.

"Ok, you asked a question, now it's my turn." Liz said with a child like tone as she cracked a grin, "Am I going to be a big part of your team?"

"After I bond with the others. I really want to get to know Sarah and Hope first, and, Trey, to."

"Your Wigglytuff, right." Liz said under her breath.

"So, yes, you and Chris will be a big part, but, for the moment, you and he won't be joining in any battles on my behalf, to answer your question directly."

"I can live with that for now." Liz said before lapsing into silence for a time.

Feeling her face carefully, I noticed that Liz was in deep thought.

"You know," she said at length, "We could go ahead and complete the bond we started last night if you want."

She leaned in close to my ear and whispered, "We would both know if we were really meant to be with each other or not."

She drew back before continuing.

"What do you say. All we have to do is try to kiss, on the lips, don't worry, I'll be gentle, and you won't actually be kissing me, if you're worried about that sort of thing."

"This is the first time I ever tried to kiss a girl, oh well, better now then never." I said as I felt her face in order to line up my lips with hers. I was about to lean forward to kiss her when the better part of caution whispered in the back of my mind.

"This is kind of sudden, isn't it?" I asked.

Liz took a moment to answer. "How much did Chris tell you about our awakening process?"

"He told me that you basically look back at your hole life."

"Well, yes," she paused, "He didn't tell you that we also sort of look to the future, did he?"

"He just told me what he knew. He said as much."

"I see. Well, we can't choose what or how much we see, we just see a few things, still images mainly." she paused again.

"I didn't want to scare Chris with a lot of information about our awakening process." she said abruptly.

"That's understandable, but he was worried for you last night, so hopefully he'll still be worried when he wakes up this morning."

A thought seized me. "How come you're not worried about him?"

"when the time comes to worry, I'll worry, but for now we first have to see how damaged he is. If you wake a walker to early you can do some, a lot of damage to their personality."

"Are you sure he's a walker?" I asked; wanting to make sure no other possibilities existed.

"It's the only possibility I know about, though this will be the first occurrence I've witnessed." she explained carefully.

"So we have a little time to kill?"

"Just a little." she answered.

"So, what did you see about, us?" I asked, not wanting to know, but still curious.

"The two of us, happy together. Not like, in love as in a boy and girl couple relationship, but happy as really, really good friends, maybe even a little more than friends.

That's how I know this bond will be a good one."

"Anything else?"

"Yes, but," she seemed like she didn't want to reveal what else she'd seen, and I didn't feel the need to press her.

I figured if Liz wasn't saying anything, it was probably for the best.

"This bonding thing won't hurt, will it?" I asked; feeling kind of nervous.

"It shouldn't." she said, moving her face down just a little bit.

"If this doesn't work, we'll just share an awkward, experience." she said as I moved awkwardly into position; trying to line up my mouth with her smaller one.

"One thing first." I said, "Even if this doesn't work, I want you to be more to me then just another battle partner."

"I wouldn't have let you stay the night with me if I thought you were a bad person." she said before sighing long and deeply.

"Nervous?" I asked; feeling that way myself.

"Just releasing pent up psychic power in a non-destructive way."

"So, what's a destructive way?" I asked; my curiosity peaked.

"Oh, I don't know, something like Thunderbolt or maybe shadowball."

"What? You just change your psychic energy into something else?" I asked.

"Pretty much." She answered.

"You said you knew this bond would work, and yet you're still nervous?"

"You tend to get that way when you realize that, in a few short seconds you could be complete, but psychic power can do so much more then cause pain however. Hmm, let me think."

She thought for a few seconds before humming a perfect middle F that stopped coming from her mouth after about two seconds and surrounded her; seeming to last forever.

This represents the psychic field that always surrounds most psychic types." She explained as the sound reverberated around her." If we aren't meant to be linked together this field will simply collapse when we try to kiss, as you'll be attempting to pearce it with your presence. Otherwise; well, we will both know pretty fast either way." she said in a shaky voice.

"So this is like the sound version of what sighted people see?" I asked as I gestured to the air around Liz; intrigued by what I was being told.

"Kind of, though most people only see the area around the field, so it looks like we're floating above the ground. The sound will change to reflect the strength of the field and how much it harmonizes when we touch. that's the real reason I caused it to manifest. Oh and, only you can hear it." she explained.

"But you're not floating right now." I pointed out.

"It just wastes psychic energy, so I keep my powers off most of the time." Liz responded like it didn't matter at the moment, and I suppose it really didn't.

As I tried to press my lips against her's, I noticed that the sound got louder as our lips actually met.

secretly relishing the contact, I heard the pitch of the field change from F to a perfect G that sounded so happy to be a G.

If this wasn't a perfect psychic match, I had no idea what one would sound like.

I suddenly felt like I was falling into Liz's enter-most being as I heard the psychic field... well, pop before everything went, well, black; that is to say, I went to sleep again.

Liz's POV

I was caught off garde by how sudden, strong and different the bond was. As Michael passed out on the bed again I could feel his mental presents joining mine.

I wasn't privy to every thought and emotion he had, but I somehow knew that if either of us were ever in any kind of danger, the other would know at once.

I decided to make use of the situation and contact my previous trainer while everyone was still sleeping. As I headed for the door, one of Michael's Poké balls popped open, releasing a Clefairy that I assumed was Hope.

"You could have let one of us know before you bonded with our friend." she said with a big grinn.

`I'm awfully sorry, but one thing led to another and, well, you know, right?" I said as I turned to face her.

"Could you watch Michael? The bond was successful so he'll be out for a wile, but if he wakes up while I'm gone he will probably be a little woozy."

"Sure! I'd love to." she answered with good cheer.

I opened the door, but as I turned to leave, a thought occurred to me.

"Hope? Do you need me to release Sarah from her ball so you won't be board?"

`No thank you. If I want to talk to her, I'm perfectly capable of letting her out myself. What do I do about the sleeping Raichu-looking thing?"

"Oh, that's Chris. He, um, evolved in his sleep so,"

"We have a possible dream walker here, gocha."

"You know about them? Dream walkers I mean?"

"rumors. You tend to hear those a little when you're stuck at a lab for a few months. Besides, we Clefairy can also dream walk as well."

"I see. Well this one is true, so can you please, just, kind of, gently probe to see how much Chris remembers if he wakes up? It would be a big help to me."

"Gocha covered, Liz."

"Yes I believe you do, and, thank you."

"You are very welcome Liz."

(What a nice Clefairy.) I thought as I closed the door.

Almost nobody was around at this early hour, so my path to the lobby was unobstructed.

I still had a few coins left, so I inserted two of them into one of the pay-phones and input my soon-to-be previous trainer's number.

A few rings passed before I heard, "...better not be that other Gardevoir because HELLO?"

"I might have the wrong number?" I said by way of a coded introduction.

"Oh Liz, please tell me you didn't bond with that other trainer because, I could really use an out right now."

"Sorry, but we match, and I just completed the final bonding steps about five minutes ago. Why?"

"You know how, when we parted, we joked about me ending up being matched with a Gardevoir that was selfish and manipulative?"

"Yes, very vividly. Let me guess, it happened didn't it."

"Oh yes. The match is one hundred percent perfect, and let me tell you, it's only been fifteen hours since we met, and she's been a nightmare from the start. She okoed my entire team which pretty much qualifies her as a legitimate protector, and since I had no Pokémon to defend me she just came in and took over as my team's leader. She's running the entire show, and I've never felt more like a third wheel than now."

He whispered all of this in a rush, and when he took a breather I said "Look Thomas, everything happened so fast, and before I knew it Michael and I were bonded. I'm sorry! I should have checked with you first. Heck, I never should have left! But all that aside, you're her trainer, so just put her back in her ball."

"I would if I could, but she has her ball right now and I doubt she's ever going to let me have it. Listen liz, I have my hands full here so."

The phone was yanked away, and a new voice came on the line.

"You have my word as a fellow Gardevoir that I will not let anything happen to Thomas. I promise to protect him from physical, mortal and emotional harm forever. It wouldn't have mattered if you stayed or not, the outcome would still be the same. I'm stronger than you are; I know because I used his Pokédex to check your current stats. Now he and I have some, acquainting, to do, so, good day to you."

Thomas groaned in a very high voice that betrayed his status as a virgin, and then the line went dead.

I couldn't help feeling for him, but I also knew that something like this could happen anyway; as my people as a hole have a tendency to be selfish and

over-protective if the person they're protecting is judged to be beneath them in the intelligence category. Though I was quite flummoxed by the idea of a Gardevoir being a trainer .

I didn't want to leave Thomas with that monster of a Gardevoir for to much longer, but I also had a really wicked way to take her out, though it would only work if some time passed. I also knew that the oath the Gardevoir had just given me pretty much made it so she couldn't harm Thomas even if she wanted to, so I could let a trap lay itself, and spring it once Michael and I got to know each other a little better.

Something hitting me in the leg from behind jolted me from my thoughts.

It was Sarah; out of breath and incredibly flustered.

I knelt down and gathered her into my arms.

"First calm down." I said and waited for her to catch her breath.

"Now, what's wrong?" I asked, fearing the worst.

"It's Chris. he's, well, like a um, well, you tell him to do something and he does it.

No questions asked or anything. It's really scary. I don't know what to do for him."

"I don't know either, at the moment, but we'll think of something." I said as I ran back to the room; carrying Sarah in my arms.

Trey's POV

I felt hands gently shaking me as I rose from a fitful slumber.

"Trey, come on, get up."

It was Juniper.

"Trey, it's urgent."

"Is Michael okay?" I asked still sleepy.

"He's fine, but, he ran into a Gardevoir last night; she's on the phone now; they match, but" she paused for a moment, "Liz and I think we're dealing with a blank walker."

Sleep vanished instantly as my training kicked in.

"Name, age and gender of the Pokémon."

"Raichu, we think, About four years, male." she said as she lead me to her office.

"The walking happened sometime in the early morning hours, and the blanking was noticed immediately after Chris awoke about five minutes ago."

She explained this as we arrived in her office, a somewhat spacious room with lots of small contraptions.

One of these showed an extremely anxious-looking Gardevoir in a strange dress for her kind.

"Probably an over abundance of energy from a surplus of evo stone fragments." I said as I aproached the display feeturing the Gardevoir.

"Oh, you must be Trey." she said as I came in range of the device.

"Liz?" I asked and received a nod in reply.

"Is there any hope for my friend?" Liz asked; her eyes lighting up with the hope she apparently felt inside of her.

"A rather large amount of it, but we have to act quickly, and I need to be there in person to perform the procedure properly." I said; hoping that Juniper would recognize this as the emergency it was and grant me permission to transport without my trainer's authorization.

She seemed to be thinking something along the same lines, because she picked up a Pokéball saying, "I'll put in a good word for you, but you need to try really hard to save him, otherwise it'll be my head going to the league tonight on a big silver platter."

"This should be a relatively simple process, so please do not worry." I said before stepping into the ball to be transported.

I came out at the other end to find Liz waiting for me.

"You look prettier in person." I complemented.

"I'M glad to hear that from you trey. I should let you know that I'm not a vain Gardevoir like the one my previous trainer ended up with."

Liz began to guide me toward the back of the establishment we were in.

"I am sorry for him."

"Me to. I never should have left, but what's done is done. Besides which, I now have Chris to worry about. Speaking of which, how high do you rate our chances of recovering him?"

"Chances are in the high ninety percent range, I have done this procedure before on fellow Wigglytuff. Nine times out of ten, they retain all of their past memories, so I have high hopes things will be the same here."

We arrived in the room, and I saw a sort of Raichu sitting on a bed against the right wall. Michael slept on a similar bed on the left of the room.

"Hello Chris." I said cheerfully. He looked at me, but he did not respond.

"Chris, respond please." Liz said.

"Good day to you Wigglytuff." Chris said flatly with no change in his facial expression before looking back at the wall.

"That bad?" I asked.

"Can we still save him?" asked Sarah who was at Michael's feet.

"We need to do this quickly." I began, "Liz could you please put him to sleep?"

She did not say anything, but she began to use something like an eye-gaze technique which made him pass out very fast.

"Somewhat of a signature move." she said by way of an explanation. "Ok, he's out like a light, now what?"

"I need you to watch both his life energy as well as his mind. I am now going to use dream eater to extract enough excess energy to force his mind to reactivate properly, and it's state should revert back to the way it was last night before he went to bed."

"That's just the result we want!" Liz said before going into some kind of trance.

"Okay, we are almost ready to go, but before we begin, I need someone to be a receiver for the extra energy I am going to be putting off. I cannot use Liz for this because she could blank Chris' memory completely by reflecting his current state back at him multiple times. That kind of exposure will cause permanent brain damage, and we do not want that."

Hope jumped up. "I'll do it! I want to be helpful."

"That is a good idea." I said. "Stand next to me Hope and hold my left hand."

"One more thing. Liz, if chris' mental patterns revert before the procedure finishes, please brake the circle. That should make everything turn out right for all of us."

She did as I asked and I took hold of Liz's left hand, and she held Chris' right hand.

"I guess I take Chris' left hand?"

"Yes that is correct Hope, but none of you need to think about anything related to your personal lives during this. The idea is to revert his mind, not to impose our own ideals onto him." I explained.

"O, one final thing. Do, Not, try to bounce energy between each other, you can kick off any extra energy later. Just concentrate on your specific tasks, as I shall."

I paused to collect myself, "Okay, are we all ready?"

Sarah cleared her throat. "Can I help at all? I don't want to be useless when everyone else is doing something."

I thought for a moment, and I had the perfect idea.

"You can keep Michael from getting involved if he wakes up. Keep him calm, and keep him still. Can you do that?"

Sarah puffed up her chest and began moving up toward Michael's face.

"I will do this! I will keep him over here for you!"

"Let's do this thing!" Liz and Hope said.

I nodded, and began charging up Dream Eater.

Michael's POV

This time when I slept, I did have a dream, and it was weird; all things considered.

I was sitting in the back seat of a somewhat rickety car that was driving down a washboard road and ascending a rather steep hill; the engine growling as the car ate up the road at a frantic pace.

The radio was playing a strange song. It was a remix of the song "Aria of the Sole" from the Persona video game series that was played in the Velvet Room, but it had some rather unique properties.

For starters, the tecnoe synths were mostly replaced with heavy metal, and the drums were replaced with a more symphonic drum set.

On top of all of that, the passages in between Tomoko Komiya's opera vocals were filled with sampled Pokémon cries

from the games with a few anime sound-bites mixed in for good measure.

Driving this strange arrangement was a disco back-beat straight out of the 70's that could have been written by someone like Meco. It slammed into my back thanks to the two sub-woofers that I estimated to be in the twelve-inch range.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room!" said a voice to my left; yelling to be heard over the music and the road noise.

"You're kidding, right?" I asked; not believing what my respective since's were telling me.

"No, I am most certainly not. My name is Igor, and I am delighted to make your acquaintance."

Now, I knew I was dreaming.

"Like-wise. I'm Michael, and I can't believe I'm here."

"And I cannot believe we have a blind guest, but do not be alarmed, for I have summoned you here within your dreams.

"But I haven't signed a contract to be here." I said; recalling my knowledge of the Persona games.

"Do not worry about that, for you shall enter into one in the coming days. This space represents your life as it has been up to this point."

The car screeched to a stop with a suddenness that caused both of us to slam back into our seats.

"Your life, will improve for the better while you are in this new world, it shall, however take a rather circuitous root to reach its intended destination." Igor said; his voice lowering somewhat to match the quieter atmosphere.

"In the coming days, you will forge bonds which you must cultivate in order to reach your destination and retrieve something you lost while transporting to this new world you find yourself in."

He handed me a strange antique key.

"Hold on to this. When we next meet to discuss the finer details, you will come here of your own accord.

He shifted a little to his left, moving toward the driver side door.

"A situation has arisen that requires your attention, so, until we meet again, fair well."

The vocals in the music suddenly changed. In a tecnoe style of choppy sound-bites I heard the following.

(Trey) "No! this is bad!"

(Hope) "Hold on!"

(Unknown voice) "Save me!"

(Liz, louder than the rest) "Brake the link!"

the screech of an old dial-up modem was heard before I abruptly regained consciousness.

I awoke to find Sarah laying on my face.

"Sarah? Is something going on?"

"Pip Pip! lup! Pup pupup lulilup. Lip Pip?"

"Sorry, I didn't coppy that. Let me lift you away from me enough to understand you." I said gently as I did just that.

"It sure is! But you need to stay still and let the others work though. Understand?" She asked.

"I have to help them." I said as I tried to push myself up off of the bed. "I can't explain it but."

"NO!" Sarah said, slamming her full weight against me which forced me back down on to the bed.

"Your pretty strong for a little, um, girl bird." I grunted; impressed despite the situation.

"Never underestimate a Piplup with a mission! I won't fail my friends! That and, I'm a little over-weight." she said; moving to keep me down as I tried to rise again.

"I understand," I began, "But I just have this feeling that."

"It's falling apart!" I heard Liz say.

"No! This is bad!" Trey said.

I knew what was coming next. I gently moved Sarah off me and put her next to me on the bed as I sat up.

"Sorry Sarah." I said in her direction.

"Hold on." Hope said as I aimed myself at the voices.

"Save me!" The unknown voice said.

I lunged at the source of the unknown voice as Liz said "Brake the!"

She broke off with a gasp as I felt my hand connect with something furry.

"NO!" everyone screamed as I heard the same new voice ask, "What gives doood?"

I felt very strange as an explosion sent all of us to the different cardinal directions of the room.

I was leaning against the bed Sarah was on with something heavy; breathing just as heavy; sitting in my lap.

After feeling it, I realized it was a bigger version of Chris.

"You probably just saved all our lives." Liz said; sitting across from me.

Climbing down from the bed, Sarah blew out a breath before saying, "I am really useless, heck, I've pretty much been that way since I hatched."

She wasn't paying attention to what she was doing, but as she was blowing she passed her bill in front of my face, her breath causing me to recall sunny spring days just after a rain storm.

"Oh sorry. but that Pretty much says how I'm feeling right now since I failed in my mission." She said; turning away from me after seeing what she did.

"It's fine," I began, "But you can't expect to be able to do everything just after hatching." I said.

"You don't understand anything! Because I couldn't do a simple thing like keep you out of the way during an important, um, operation, that Raichu you're holding might be a permanent puppet." Sarah said; almost bursting into tears.

"Wowe kill those waterworks Sarah." Chris said, startling us all.

"Huh? Chris? Is that you? How much do you remember?"

Sarah asked all of these questions first, but some of the others joined in on different questions; Liz being the one most interested in Chris' memories.

"chris is, like, the name I answer to, so, yes it is me, and," here he paused in thought.

"Well let's see, I remember our first meeting Liz," Liz let out a very quick low sigh as if a huge weight had been lifted off of her.

"Okay," she said in an almost ethereal voice, "So what else?"

"Well, almost everything from that point forward is fine, but everything before that point is gone, except for, I left my home for some embarrassing reason that I cannot recall, and, apparently, I'm in something like permanent exile until I do, something."

"Okay, things could be worse, you only lost about six months of your life, and maybe a few weeks or so as well." Liz said somewhat relieved. "The reason you can't go home should make itself apparent in a day or two, so don't worry about it until then."

"Okay I'll chillax and just live for three days, but, if the reason hasn't revealed itself by then, could you please tell me what said reason is?"

"That's a fair deal." Liz agreed.

I waited for a few seconds to see if the air was clear before asking, "So sarah, what did you mean when you said you've been useless from the time you hatched?"

"I was referring, partly, to my attempt to keep you from interfering with the others."

"Sorry little gal, I didn't mean to make you feel frustrated or anything."

"It's not just this morning." she said distractedly before asking the strangest question I ever heard anything intelligent enough to speak ask.

"Did my breath smell like water at all?"

"Well, Yes it did." I said with a small laugh.

"I can feel the water in my body. But, I've tried for somewhere around three months, Hope can attest to that, but no matter how hard I try, nothing ever comes out but breath that smells like water, or so Hope says." Sarah said dejectedly.

"I wander if? Hay Sarah, come here please?"

She wasn't far, but she faced me none the less as Chris moved out of my lap so Sarah could take his place.

"Where are you trying to pull the water from?" I asked.

She used her flippers and my own hands to indicate a spot beneath her bill, almost where a human chin would be. I felt down her body from that point until I found her tubby, downy chest.

"I wonder. You have to take in a lot of air in order to use your water attacks right?" I asked.

"Piplup?" Sarah answered, which I took as, "Ahuh?"

"So, I'm betting you took in more air than you need, and now it's stuck somewhere down here holding up your water." I said; patting her chest.

Something seemed to pop, Sarah made a gurgling sound from way back in her throat, and then a blast of cold water splashed against my chest; causing both of us to be a little startled.

"I knew it! Air bubbles." I said to myself, then had an idea.

After insuring that Sarah was calm, I said, "Now, use Bubble on me. Remember where the water came from and try to make that feeling happen again. When you feel you have enough water ready, try to aim it at me as much as you can. Okay, go!"

sarah centered herself and took a controlled breath. Without warning, a blast of water hit me more or less in the chest.

"That's what I've been trying to do for a long time." sarah said ecstatically over clapping and cheers from the rest of the group.

"I couldn't keep you from joining the circle, so I thought I was a failure because I couldn't do anything right.

"Are you angry now?" I asked.

"Yes, a little bit, because you still could have damaged Chris beyond repair. We are all just very lucky you helped him instead of hurt him"

"Yes, but Michael, why did you join the circle?" asked Liz; somewhat perplexed.

"Well it wasn't a split-second decision, someone kind of told me to do so." I said, wondering if anyone in the room would believe me if I told them the truth.

A storm of questions followed my explanation of the dream I had; questions like "What's a car?", "What's a radio?", "Who's Igor?", and; from Liz, "What does he represent?"

"This doesn't really count seeing as we were both in our balls," Hope began, "But you and I sarah rode in a car on our way back to the lab for the first time; you know, because not everyone happens to have a flying Pokémon with them at all times."

"A radio,"Trey began, "I believe, is something that plays music. It is, kind of like what they use in the Pokémon centers to tell us things, but it gets music from somewhere called, I think, a, station."

"Oh, I do know what that is." sarah said slowly.

Trey seemed apologetic as he said, "Sorry if my human knowledge seems kind of skewed, but we get it from something like fourth-party sources."

"Igor, Chris," I started in, "Is a character from a video game series called Persona that I played in my, past, and Liz, as for what he represents? I really couldn't tell you. At least Chris can ask questions that can be answered. I, just, hope I can be a worthy trainer to you all."

"Do not look for problems, just deal with each one as it arises and you will do just fine. You will soon have three experienced Pokémon with you. We will help you through the tight spots together, so calm down and try to relax and enjoy the journey."

"That's really nice Trey," I said before realizing that I hadn't asked for him to be here!

"How did you get here anyway?"

"Oh, the emergency situation allowed me to come here to help, but I guess I should be heading back now?"

"I'd really like you with me, but, you're probably right. We should at least ask Juniper what she thinks first." I said; trying to keep my spirits up as we all headed for the door.

"If he does have to go," Hope began, "At least we got something good out of his stay, as Chris can now remember things again."

I noticed that the center was already up and bustling at the early hour of seven, but that didn't

really surprise me as we headed for the communication terminals.

"Well look who it is, the blind trainer who's already a prodigy." Juniper said after the connection was made.

"What do you mean?" I asked, somewhat flustered.

"Well you already have a Wigglytuff, Gardevoir, Raichu, Piplup and Clefairy, and you haven't even had your first battle yet. How is Raichu, by the way?"

"Except for missing the first six months of my life, I'm fine!" he said, moving in front of the monitor so Juniper could see him.

"That's good. I'm glad to see my faith in you all hasn't been misplaced." Juniper said as Chris and Trey switched places.

"So, um, I guess I have to go back now?"

"What do you think should happen?" Juniper asked.

"I understand why the rules are their," Trey said; sounding a bit taller than before, "But if anything, I want to be their for Chris' first gym battle. Would that be okay? Ms. Juniper?"

"That would be fine with me." she said after a moments pause."

Trey let out a breath that sounded more like someone opening the lid of a soda bottle that had sat out all night.

"Does that hurt?" Juniper asked; sounding concerned.

"What, inflation and deflation? No, not really. Why? does it look painful?"

"Somewhat." she said after a moment of reflection.

"It is not any different than someone standing a little taller than they usually do and then returning to their normal height. At any rate, I like to look at the person I am addressing."

"That's always a good thing Trey. Now Michael, I must make you aware of a few things. First is the cool-down period that comes with all Pokémon at a higher evolutionary stage than what you can currently wield. Basically, after receiving a Pokémon of this type, and meating all the qualifications , you have to wait thirty hours before you can use them in battle.

While the Pokémon league and myself understand that a Pokémon isn't just a mindless machine that follows commands blindly, we also understand how tempting it is for a trainer to use powerfull Pokémon to rapidly obtain whatever goals they have in life. And that's why we make it so you can't, um, 'control' high-level Pokémon before reaching a cirtain point in your journey.

This is to insure that you, as a trainer, don't come to rely on only one strong Pokémon and forsake your other team-mates. This restriction, by its very definition, also applies to Chris and Liz as well."

She paused before continuing.

"Second, I want you to understand how lucky you are to have such Pokémon friends at this point in your journey. Gardevoir, in particular, don't usually befriend trainers just starting out. In fact, most Gardevoir who don't have a trainer at this point in their lives usually stay loners forever."

"Or they become like the one that got ahold of Thomas." Liz put in.

"Oh, your previous trainer. Yeah, he now has some interesting posts on trainerjournal concerning his new life-style." Juniper said.

Trey began to climb into his ball as Juniper continued. "I'm glad everything worked out for all concerned, but duty calls, as they say. Good journey, and, call me every now and then." Trey's ball disappeared into the machine as she spoke. "I shall be most interested in hearing from you."

"Do not be a stranger!" Trey said from the other side before the connection went dead.

"I suppose that's one way of letting someone know you got their safely." Chris observed as we all went to get some food.

"So you want to train me yourself? How is that going to work?" Sarah asked after we had returned to our room.

"Well, If we work together, we can both discover your secrets at the same time." I answered.

"Besides which, I doubt Liz, Hope, or Chris know anything about water moves." I added after a short pause.

"Not that we don't know anything about said moves, but Chris and I will abstain from being involved in this particular assignment." Liz said.

"Tell you what." Liz began presently, "We will all go to find a place for you to train and then we'll hold back to give you time to bond. How does that sound?"

Sarah seemed to think before responding. "That would be okay with me, so long as both of you stay close by in case we need you."

The training wasn't what you'd call a resounding success, but it wasn't a dismal failure either.

The objective was to help Sarah advance her knowledge, but I found mine advancing more than her's.

To be more accurate, my preconceptions of what Pokémon could and couldn't do had to be dashed before I could be an effective teacher.

During the training session I discovered that Liz, Chris and Hope had a shared attribute; that of being incredibly observant.

Through them; mainly Hope in this case; Sarah and I found a way to strengthen her bubble attack and even started the process of focusing the wide-ranged attack into a beam.

The attack still took ages to be launched, and the aim was far from what you'd call perfect, but progress was made so I was feeling like I might be able to do this training thing after all.

We were training just north of the town, and we were starting to head back for the night when Sarah surprised all of us by abruptly asking Hope to hit her with Magical Leaf.

"But Sarah!" Chris began, "You're like really week to that attack. It will hurt you a lot! You do know that, right?"

"I guess I better get used to pain now rather than later. This way, I won't have to"

She never got to finish her sentence as Hope launched the attack without any warning what-so-ever.

Sarah's reaction was not what any of us expected.

she started to cry, but that only lasted about half a second before it turned into a growl several octaves lower than her normal voice.

She had started to slump forward, but she puffed up her chest and stood erect once more as she used the pain; or anger; to launch a Bubble Beam directly at Hope who spluttered as it made contact with; I presume; her chest, or was it her face or possibly both? I don't know which it was more of, I just know it was a hit hard enough to almost send Hope to the ground.

They both stood still to catch their breath, but; apparently; we had been noticed.


	3. Chapter 3

Attached

A Pokémon Persona Crossover Fanfiction

by Three Black Noises

Chapter 3

"You know, you really shouldn't use anger to power your attacks." a voice said.

"Well excuse me, young, lady? But I'm not going to be a cry baby just because I got a little hurt." Sarah said; trying to keep her voice casual.

"That may be true," the voice said; coming a little closer, "But your anger will run out eventually, and where will you be then?"

"Out of choices?" Sarah asked.

"More like out of power, but seriously, you need to relax and let your own method come to you." the voice said; now directly in front of Sarah.

"wow! An Azumarill!" Hope whispered

I reached out and touched the new arrival. Her hands; or paws, or whatever they were called;) rested on Sarah's shoulders and squeezed gently.

"Hay! what are" Azumarill broke off in a rather surprised "oh dear!" before saying, "This must all be hard for you, not knowing anything about your new friends, you know, with you being blind and all."

"I think my friends and I will find a way to overcome that obstacle." I said as I felt Azumarill's fur; finding it to be rather rough.

"Your fur doesn't feel like I thought it would." I said in reflection.

"It's rather rough isn't it. That's so we can swim through the water at fast speeds."

"So, can you, help Sarah?" Chris asked.

"I might be able to, just give me a few minutes please." Azumarill said to; I think all of us before turning back to Sarah again.

Now, my name's Christina, and I'm right here. I'm not going to put you down, and I'm not going to force you to do anything my way. All I ask is that you relax, and let your own style come out." Christina said in a very calm voice.

"Take as much time as you need Sarah." Hope encouraged.

We're all here with you." I added.

"I know." Sarah began, "But I have to try so hard because, I, I, I!"

the pitch of her voice rose with each "I" until she was almost hysterical.

She then took a hitching breath like she was going to say something, but ended up not saying whatever she wanted to.

"Just let it out." Chris and Christina said; with Chris leading very slightly.

"You'll feel so much better once you do." Liz said from a very slight distance away.

"You all might hate me." Sarah chided.

"If anything else, I'll stay with you." Hope said.

"It's just that, I, I!" she took another hitching breath but held it for several seconds before exploding,

"Never ever want to evolve!"

She took a moment to catch her breath before saying, "Wow, I said it, and, all of you are still here."

She walked up to me. "You're not mad at me, are you?"

"Not really, but I can't help the thought that fait is playing a very crewel joke on me."

I paused for a second as I pet Sarah on her chest.

"Mother hates me now." she said dejectedly.

"Evolution can do that." Liz said; now closer.

"You don't get it." Sarah said; now calm.

"Mother was a Prinplup. She loved me. She became Piplup. She still loved me. She became Prinplup again.

She said she hated my guts, and she'd kill me if we ever meat again."

Sarah delivered this with an almost mechanical rhythm; her voice dropping into somewhere between mail and female range.

Silence persisted for several minutes as we all thought about her words.

"Your mother was a breeder!" Liz, Christina and Hope said.

"That means something?" I asked; not seeing how that made a difference.

"That would explain the sudden personality change." said Liz.

"So." Sarah said; evidently trying to figure things out.

"The Piplup stage can't produce young," Liz said; prompting her.

"So someone made her evolve!" Sarah said.

"And creatures that are forced to evolve can keep their old personality." Hope said.

"And Pokémon evolved in that way can't always hold their new forms, especially if they're raised in captivity with no battle experience." Christina added.

After a few seconds Sarah continued, "She changed back into a Piplup, and when she changed into Prinplup the correct way, she, became selfish?"

"Or it could be evolution high." Chris spoke up darkly.

"What?" everyone except Chris and Liz asked.

"When a Pokémon evolves for the first time," Liz began, "Especially one with such a drastic personality change as from Piplup to Prinplup, the new personality overrides the old for about five minutes or so. During this time, they make decisions that go against their normal way of looking at, or doing things. When the high fades, they often times, have no memory of the event."

"That's horrible! we all said.

"Most of the time in this kind of situation," chris began, "The new personality becomes the permanent personality."

"But if that's the case; you know, with me being the property of a breeder and all, why was I dropped off at Juniper's lab?" a bewildered Sarah asked.

"This was probably your mother's first brood," Hope began; stepping close to Sarah and lowering her voice, "So your most likely the only survivor given that your kind are only supposed to have one child a year." She finished unhappily.

"So we do only come one at a time." sarah said.

"Normally yes, but in captivitty, things can be, somewhat different, given the fact that in the wild, you're kind normally meet up in an isolated place and do the whole mating, raising young thing." Liz said.

A few moments passed before Sarah asked, "Do you think they timed mom's evolution to make her forget the pain of that loss?"

"Probably dear." Liz said quietly.

"I guess I can see why, but I still wish mother and I didn't have to go through that." Sarah said somewhat sadly.

"We all wish things didn't happen in our lives," I began, "But we have to play our hands the way they're dealt."

"What?" Christina and sarah asked.

"It just means you deal with things the way they are, as they come up." I explained.

"So what, just move on now?" Sarah asked in my direction.

"Yes. You can't change it, and at least it's out in the open now." I replied.

"And I feel so much better now that you know and except what I've been through." Sarah said; turning back to Christina.

"So much so in fact that."

The blast of water came so suddenly that Christina had no time to dodge it.

"Wow! I guess it does work better when you're calm." Sarah said in utter amazement.

"And would you calmly be issuing a challenge to me?" Christina asked.

"No. The attack just came to me after I got all that stuff off my chest." sarah explained.

"Just be lucky you attacked such a nice pokémon."Chris said before adding,

"Any other time, you'd be in over your head after doing something like that."

"I think I'd like to make it a battle. I need to learn how to do these anyway." Sarah said.

"That's very brave, but I'm afraid I'll have to pass. It won't be much of a challenge, because," Here Christina paused a bit,

"Well, I'm completely TM taught."

I wasn't sure if a TM was the same in this world as it was in the games, so I asked about them.

"Well they let a trainer teach a Pokémon skills without all the work it would normally take but"

Christina acted like she wanted to continue, but after several seconds Liz took up the thread.

"You have to use a TM repeatedly to keep a Pokémon fluent in a skill, but if you use a TM to much," Sarah jumped in with a heavy tone in her voice.

"Let me guess, the Pokémon can't learn the move, the right way?"

"Or not at all." Chris added; sounding sad.

"And if you do something like swap out TMS repeatedly over a long period of time, you can destroy a Pokémon's mind." Liz continued.

"That's horrible!"I exclaimed.

"That's why` my trainer gave me up." Christina broke in.

"I never knew a human could cry so much, she felt so bad." she continued.

"She was Marr help azu, but she Marill mare."

Her voice became frantic, "zoo! Marill zu!"

She then made a long peaceful "aaaaaaaah" sound, then became quiet all together.

"What happened to her?" sarah asked before being silenced by Chris.

"Pip Piplup plup?" Christina asked; causing me to gasp.

(She's very sensitive to what she hears right now.) Liz told me in my head.

(One of the side effects of the speaking TM is that it makes a speaker forget everything about speaking, including there own language, if not constantly reapplied.)

(So she's learning the Piplup language now?) I thought back.

(Once that particular TM is done invading the speech center, it leaves it, like a clean slate, able to absorb anything vocal given to it.)

(So what, that's a yes?) I asked; feeling somewhat uneasy.

(More or less.) Liz answered.

(Nobody is really sure how a Pokémon learns their name at first," Liz began,

(But somehow, when a Pokémon is born, they can only say their own name, and most of the time, never go beyond that.)

(And I guess the younger a Pokémon is when a speech TM is used on it, the easier it is for said Pokémon to forget something as basic as saying their own name?) I surmised.

"Is it to late?" Sarah asked; fear creeping into her voice.

"Not if we hurry." Liz whispered. "just relax and let me have control."

Sarah relaxed, and a few seconds later said Christina's Pokémon name several times.

Christina eventually started to pick up on her own language again, and; apparently; Liz ran Sarah through several more derivatives of "Azumarill" before letting her have control of her own voice again.

"Boy! That felt weird." Sarah said.

Christina responded with a long string of sounds derived from her name, and I suddenly had a horrible thought.

"If Sarah is speaking her own language, how come I can understand her but not Christina?"

"We still don't know that much about what happened when you came here." Chris put in.

"If I had to make a somewhat educated guess, I would say you can understand Pokémon no matter what language they speak,

so long as they've joined you as a friend or a partner, but if they already know your language ..." Liz finished.

"I won't need to understand the language they speak." I finished; understanding how it'd make things easier on the translation bug if it didn't have as many languages to translate simultaneously.

"That does make a kind of weird sence." Hope said.

It dawned on me at that point that the translation bug; working in this way; would also allow me to know immediately if a Pokémon was capable of speaking english or not, without them having to show off that particular talent and possibly put themselves at risk.

sarah and Christina carried on there conversation, but I couldn't understand Sarah at all.

I indicated this, and was told that; most likely; I could only understand a Pokémon in my group

if they were talking to me or someone else in the group.

"But that means I can no longer understand Christina now." I said; feeling a little sad for her.

"I, sort of have an idea." Liz said; now moving very close to me.

She touched me on the shoulder, and I could understand the conversation again.

"But, if you can't see, how can you fight, and stuff?" Sarah asked.

"I'm still working on that, but I can show you what I've worked out so far.

Christina went through a series of mostly hand-to-hand moves that seemed to rely on close proximity to an opponent.

"So what would you do if your opponent is farther away?" Sarah asked.

Christina responded with a brisk attack that I guessed was watergun.

"Try and find me!" Sarah challenged. She then immediately dove off of the road and hid somewhere. Guessing by the sounds she made, it was in a bush.

Christina made several nervous sounds before seeming to get a bead on sarah and issuing a sudden blast of water in her direction.

A strange surprised screaching sound suddenly issued from the place Christina was aiming for, and Liz let out a small gasp as the water made contact with the object making the sound; judging by how fast the sound stopped all together.

Everyone but me exclaimed as something, walked? out of the bushes and stood directly in front of Christina.

"Christina! I'm over here." Sarah said discouragingly from somewhere off to our right before coming back over to us with a gasp.

"SO, you're Christina Brightstar huh?" the creature standing in front of her asked in a voice that was both pretty and somewhat gruff.

"That's me, why?" she answered in english.

"because, I believe you just challenged me, and I intend to answer said challenge." The creature replied.

I started to ask what the new arival was before remembering I had an accessible Pokédex.

Pidgeot, the bird Pokémon

This Pokémon is Capable of flying incredibly quickly at speeds of mach 2 as it seeks prey.

as a result, its large talons are feared as wicked weapons.

Its well-developed chest muscles make it strong enough to whip up a gusty windstorm capable of bending tall trees with just a few flaps of its beautiful wings, which it can spread to frighten its enemies.

In full flight, by the time the flapping of these wings is heard, Pidgeot is long gone.

Its outstanding vision allows it to spot splashing Magikarp, even while flying at 3300 feet.

It can then skim the water's surface at high speed to pick off these unwary prey.

This Pokémon has a dazzling plumage of beautifully glossy feathers.

Many TRAINERS are captivated by the striking beauty of the feathers on its head, compelling them to choose Pidgeot as their Pokémon.

I read all this as Christina replied to the Pidgeot.

"And how are you going to answer my challenge, seeing as you can't use water moves?" she asked.

"Like this." The bird answered, just before he shot a blast of water at Christina.

As it hit her; and before any of us had time to react, he grabbed her in his talons and took off.

He only got about thirty feet up, before he plummeted back down to earth, face planting into the ground with Christina still in his tallons.

"Some bird you are, can't even fly." sarah laughed.

"sarah!" Hope chided.

"No she's right. I can't fly that well, yet." The bird said quietly as he picked himself up off the ground.

"I've only had my wings for a day at most, and they aren't all grown in yet, I don't think." he continued.

"So that's why a Pidgeot is here in Unova. Because you were raised in captivitty?" I guessed.

The bird made some sounds before responding, "Guess I'm pretty easy to figure out huh."

"Oh dear! Your wings. No wonder you can't fly very high." Hope exclaimed.

"You think you could use your magic fairy power to help him out?" I asked her; half teasingly.

"I don't know." She replied; circling the bird, "But, for the record, I never asked to have this power.

She paused for a few seconds; presumably as she looked at the wings in question.

"But , if I were given the choice between this, and permanently changing into who knows what at some random time,

well, I choose the weird healing powers."

She stood still, thinking before saying; more to herself than anyone else, "Hmm, these wings are pretty big.."

"I think my powers are pretty much useless at this point." she finally said.

"Oh you're the next healer aren't you?" Pidgeot asked.

"I'm afraid so, Mr..."

"Where are my manners today. My given name is robin, so you may call me that if you wish." the pidgeot replied.

"But aren't you a boy?" sarah asked with a laugh.

"Yes I am, but robin can be a boy's name to." he replied.

I wanted to see if I could befriend Robin, but I also didn't want to push my luck.

"well, Robin, it was vary nice meating you." I said.

"Likewise." he responded as I pulled out my cane and began to head back in the direction of the citty and the Pokémon center.

We walked toward town in silence for a few minutes before I decided to speak up.

"I hope he'll be okay, robin I mean."

"He's vary young, but he'll do fine on his own." liz assured me.

"why didn't you ask him along?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, why didn't you." Robin asked from a few feet behind us.

"Well, I wanted you to have whatever life you want. Why?" I asked; doing my best to hide my surprise.

"well if you want to call yourself a trainer, you need to work on your friendship skills, seeing as you not only left me behind, but Christina as well." robin replied without missing a beat.

"That's right, and I'd guess it looked pretty odd, a Pidgeot escorting an azumarill." Christina said.

"I don't doubt that at all, but I've already had an incredible run of good luck so far and wanted to actually earn my next Pokémon friend the propper way." I explained.

"That's all vary well and good, but I want a blind trainer. And seeing as you're the only one in unova, would you please consider having me as a friend?" Christina asked.

"I'd love to." I said, and we shook hand and... paw?

"That just leaves you Robin. why'd you come back, aside from escorting christina." I asked.

"Oh that's easy. You see, I might not know vary much about being a bird yet, but I do know plenty about reading humans. You had that look on your face back there that said, 'I really really want to train him,' so I'm here to give you one more chance to except me." Robin explained.

"I'd love to realize one of my dreams and befriend a Pidgeot, but only if you want to give up your freedom after a day and join me." I answered; praying he'd say yes.

"Seeing as you asked that way," robin began.

"Hold it!" a voice yelled.

We all gasped as a man; probably a little older than me; aproached us.

"I'm Liam, and I here by challenge you for ownership of that Pidgeot." he declared.

"Look, I'm not sure why you'd want a Pidgeot, but this one just gained his freedom, so you're not taking that away!" I exclaimed.

Liam just laughed.

"And how are you going to stop me good sir, with a piplup and Clefairy?" He laughed again. "I don't think so."

Sarah made an insulted sound and started to run forward, only to be stopped by Hope.

"No Sara! He's to strong for you!" Hope cried in desperation.

sara tried to brake away from Hope, but; to her credit; she kept the angry Piplup back.

Liz put her hand on my sholder, then leaned down and whispered in my ear, "He's got five badges, so mind what you say."

"What's wrong Piplup? don't you 'wunna fight?" liam taunted.

"No she doesn't!" Christina exclaimed, and her and Hope held sara back.

"He's just trying to bate you Sarah." Christina explained.

"I have to agree. He's probably got an electric or grass type that he could easily win with." I added.

"You're pretty smart for a rooky." Liam complemented.

Sarah stopped fighting, and Christina let her go.

Robin walked passed me, but as he did, he lened in and whispered, "I know what I'm doing." in a tone that also said, "Play along and we'll get through this just fine."

To Liam he said, "I'll represent myself."

"Must be my lucky day." Liam said; just before releasing a raichu from its Poké Ball.

"Oh no!" Sara said.

"I thought this would happen. Michael?" Robin asked.

"Yes, I'm here." I replied.

"Look, I imagine you want to give me commands, but I know what I'm doing, okay?" robin added.

I could tell by the tone of Robin's voice that he had a plan to win the day, so I simply said, "I trust you Robin." and left it at that.

"Raichu, Thunderbolt!" Liam commanded.

His raichu happily complied with an extremely jubilant cry, and I feared the worst for the bird I almost befriended.

Robin; however; showed no signs of alarm as the attack hit him. He didn't even cry out.

Needless to say, we were all surprised.

Liam recovered quickly and gave another command.

"Raichu, Electric Streem!"

I had no idea what that ment, but it turned out to be a way of telling Raichu to use something slightly less powerful than Thunderbolt, but not to stop until all its electric energy was used up.

Robin still didn't cry out, and; out of concern; I checked both Pokémon in my Pokédex.

Liam's Raichu; it turned out; was level 23, while robin was only level 16.

This didn't really matter; as Raichu should have gotten a bonus from being the same type as the attack he was using; what was known as a STAB or Same Type Atack Bonus.

On top of that, Robin; being a flying type; should have taken double damage from the electric attack.

My Pokédex told me that, while robin did take extra damage due to Raichu being electric type, he didn't take double damage from being a flying type.

This baffled me at first, but then I remembered that a technique existed in the games called Roost.

this technique allowed a flying Pokémon to recover its energy, but made it a normal type for the one turn it was recovering.

I figured the same principle could work on a flying-type Pokémon that wasn't actually flying, and that seemed to line up with what my Pokédex was telling me.

After all was said and done, robin still had slightly more than half of his health remaining, and I realised how shrewde he'd been.

By makeing raichu use up all its electric energy, robin had just put himself in a tactical position that put all the odds in his favor.

"Hay! What gives!" Liam almost shouted.

"I get Raichu to use Thundrbolt, and you're supposed to scream and fall over so I can take you home." He said; slightly calmer.

"Well you forgot one vary vital thing." Robin said; still calm.

"and what's that, Mr. My feathers don't get ruffled by nothing?" Liam asked.

"Oh, I know this one!" Chris and Christina both said like they were students in a classroom.

"Yes you two?" Robin asked.

"Because you aren't flying!" They both said in unison.

"That's correct." he stated.

"Oh really, in that case, Raichu, Mega Kick!" Liam commanded.

The raichu tried to kick robin as instructed, but Robin; to his credit; was nimble enough to dodge every single attack easily without even breathing hard.

I really, really wanted to give a few commands to robin, or some advice; at the vary least, but he seemed to be doing well enough on his own for the time being, so I held my tung.

"Oh that's how you 'wunna play it? Fine, I've played this game before. Raichu, Dig!" Liam commanded.

I knew what was coming next, and I wasn't wrong. The raichu stopped kicking and dug his way underground.

"And now you're going to try and nock me off my tallons." Robin sighed.

"So what if I am huh?" liam challenged.

"It won't work." Robin said just as Raichu burst out of the groun.

The attack was right on target, but I could tell that robin had a plan for how to avoid it.

I thought he'd do something awsome like counter the move with one of his own, but he simply sidestepped out of the way.

"You sure this is your first battle?" Liam asked.

"Oh yes, though your Raichu's attacks are so easy to read it's almost laughable." Robin replied as raichu sent out what I believe was a thunderwave attack that would have paralyzed robin if it made contact.

Robin kept moving even while talking, and the attack whiffed; that is to say it missed at nearly point-blank range.

The Raichu then ran straight at Robin, in what was by no accident a Takedown attack; a move with a high degree of wrisk involved, as it harmed the user if it connected, and left them wide open if it didn't.

Robin seemed to have a plan for this to, as he took six quick steps back and let raichu come at him.

As Raichu was about to connect, Robin stuck out his left leg, and Raichu connected with it; causing him to take damage from connecting with the Takedown attack itself, but making him trip in the process.

as Raichu tripped, robin simply grabbed the giant rat in his talons and just held him.

"Game over." Robin declared.

"How do you figure?" Liam asked in an angry tone; not that I really blamed him.

"Well, let's see. I have your Raichu in my talons, facing away from me with his tail rapped under him so he can't use any remaining electricitty without shocking himself. He can't use any physical moves as he can't really gather any momentum in this position, and, as I just said, he's facing away from me." robin calmly explained.

"Oh yeah, and..." Robin said before beginning to peck at Raichu's backside.

"He, can't, avoid, these." Robin said between pecks.

Raichu; to his credit, didn't cry out with each peck as I expected him to do.

After seven more pecks, Robin simply stopped and continued to hold Raichu in his talons.

"I'll still win, because you're a bird." liam tried.

"And that matters because..." Robin offered.

"Well you can't hold on to my raichu forever." liam almost spat back.

"He doesn't have to." another voice said.

I knew that voice, because I'd heard it just yesterday.

"Alder, what are you doing here?" I asked; more than a little surprised.

"Looking for you, as a matter-of-fact." He answered easily.

"Well you found me. So how much longer does Robin have to hold on to raichu anyway?" I replied.

"Less than two minutes now."

"How can that bird hold on to anything of Raichu's weight anyway?" liam asked.

"Well, I happen to be vary strong in my non-flight-related skills, seeing as my human masters up to this point have seen fit to disable my ability to sore in the sky." robin answered before anyone else could.

"and, even if I did let your rat go this vary instant, I've racked up more damage on him than he has on me, so I'll still win by default." Robin finished.

Liam seemed to be out of things to say, so we just waited.

After about a minute, Liam did speak.

"Alright! You win! I forfeit! I give! Uncle! Whatever! Just please let Raichu go, okay?"

Robin seemed to look at Alder who nodded his head, so Robin let raichu go

"You're a really smart bird after all." Liam said to Robin before turning to me.

"As for you, we're not done yet. I might have lost Robin to you, but I will defeat him in a Pokémon battle some day, even though I get nothing out of it, but my own satisfaction."

"I look forward to the day when you and I have a propper battle with our own teams of fully trained Pokémon." I said, and we shook hands.

"Raichu, Return." Liam commanded.

I heard the sound of Raichu's Poké Ball activating, but before it could perform its function, Raichu used an attack on Robin.

Robin almost dodged out of the way, but the attack; probably return; connected anyway.

As Robin let out an extremely high; pain-filled scream, Raichu laughed maniacally while the Poké Ball did it's work.

Before it could fully complete its assigned function, sara and Christina mannaged to get off, some kind of water attack, that connected with the Raichu just before he got drawn all the way into his ball.

Hope ran over to Robin and began to assess the damage.

"Oh dear, let me help you." she said.

Robin tried to say something like a negative response, but Hope was already at work calling on her Magical Leaf healing attack.

As the attack connected, Hope seemed to chant something under her breath.

Whatever she was chanting seemed to be working, as Robins pained sounds turned into relaxed ones.

"That's all I can do for him." Hope said when she was done.

"He'll be good as new by tomorrow." she finished as she walked over to stand beside sarah.

"Wow. That's, umm, thanks for that." Liam said in Hope's direction before tapping Raichu's Poké Ball.

"This little rat, and I, need to have a little talk at the Pokémon center regarding the proper use of Return." he said as he began walking away.

"Thanks for a great, demonstration. Oh and you won't be using those tactics again, by the way." he called in Robin's direction.

"Your welcome, though I have plenty more where those came from." Robin called back; sounding almost normal again.

"Well, that was, eventful." Alder said after Liam was out of earshot.

"I'm just glad it all turned out fine in the end." I replied; glad to be talking to someone who had the knowledge I lacked.

"So can that happen with any Pokémon, or just one I haven't claimed yet?" I asked.

"As long as the Pokémon in question is already registered in your name, they're safe from being challenged." Alder explained.

"Well that's good to know." I said.

"Hay Mr. Alder?" christina spoke up.

"Yes azumarill?" he answered in kind.

"Why did you single us out anyway?" she asked.

"Well to be blunt, I was hoping to extract a favor from Michael here, in exchange for putting all of you up for the night." Alder explained.

"That depends on the favor." I began, "As you know, I'm just starting out as a trainer, so I'm afraid that I can't do much for someone like you at this point."

"You have a different view-point than most trainers, and that's what I need." Alder said with a flourish.

"Viewpoint?" Christina said; stepping in front of me.

"I'm sorry sir, I'm christina brightstar, and as a fellow creature who shares his disabillity, I can't in good conscience allow you to take advantage of it."

"Brightstar, As in Brightstar limited?" Alder asked.

"The vary same." she confirmed.

"You're crystal's daughter?" Chris asked.

"Yes, but I'm really not supposed to let people know that, as mom wants me to have a normal life." she explained.

"I don't doubt that at all. And, while your name won't give you any points with me, his disability is in no danger of being used against him." Alder said.

"So who's Crystal Brightstar, and what's brightstar Limited?" I asked after christina seemed to have no more objections to Alder's proposal.

"Why don't we take Alder up on his offer, and continue this conversation in doors." Liz suggested.

"I had no idea why Liz would suggest this course of action, but I didn't see any harm in listening to Alders proposal; and gaining more information about this world at the same time, so I agreed as I folded my cane and took Liz's arm.

"So how come you started sarah out on Bubblebeam instead of watergun?" Robin casually asked as we walked.

"I don't really know exactly. Why?" I replied; both surprised by robin's knowledge of Pokémon moves as well as his will to question a total stranger's motives.

"Well that move is closer to advanced than beginner." Robin replied smoothly.

"I didn't know Sarah's battle level yet, and she seemed comfortable starting with bubble beam, so that's where we started." I replied.

Robin didn't say anything for a few seconds, but eventually he drew breath to speak.

"I know I'm the new bird on the team, but you really should have sara practice simple moves like bubble and water gun before working on bubble beam." he said.

"Your input is valued, though I wonder why you'd say such a thing." I responded; hoping to get a small glimps into the depths of Robin's knoledge regarding Pokémon battle tactics and moves

"To be direct, sarah's execution of bubble beam is more than inadequate. The beam lacks cohesion due to the bubbles being to small and far apart, and the path is irregular due to her lack of focus."

robin said all this without any need to beat around the bush; while at the same time giving a calm delivery that invited further discussion.

"I do to have focus!" sarah almost yelled.

"Okay, then using bubble beam on me while walking surely won't be a problem for you." robin calmly challenged.

Sarah, tried; several times, to answer his challenge, but she only got as far as drawing breath for the attack each time before letting the last one out in disgust.

"You're right, I don't really know the move vary well. I just want to help Michael out as best I can." she said in a vary low voice.

"If only..." she trailed off.

"If only what?" Liz and I asked at once.

"Well, if I could see how I do the move, maybe... Ahh forget it." sarah said.

"their is actually, for I just happen to know mirror move." robin said.

"What's that?" Sarah asked in wonder.

"It's a technique that lets a Pokémon coppy the last move used on it. He already did it before with christina's water attack." I explained.

"So, if I stopped and used bubble beam on Robin right now?" Sarah asked.

"Let's find out." Alder said as he stopped walking.

Liz stopped to, and Sarah planted herself in front of Robin and began to focus her powers.

The attack came out much as it had the entire afternoon. This time; however, I was able to hear the problems robin spoke about.

Sarah stepped back once she was finished, and I heard robins wings move a few times.

Suddenly, Liz was standing directly in front of me.

Her unique fragrance permeated my nostrils as I waited for something to happen.

absent-mindedly, I placed my hands on her arms; enjoying the pleasing feel of her velvet dress as the fibers rubbed against my hands.

"Your velvet dress feels nice." I complimented.

"Uh Michael, that's not actually"

Liz was cut off by robin seeming to half blow, half sing out a breath that quickly turne into, what I guest was supposed to be sarahs bubble beam attack.

Just as I'd heard when robin was on the receiving end of sarah's attack, now I actually felt how the move impacted against Liz's body.

As I expected, Liz jercked several times as each salvo of bubbles splashed against different parts of her body.

I also noticed how not a single salvo hit anywhere near the same place, and the strength of each one was drastically different.

One even hit Liz square on her noze, yet she didn't even make a sound.

"Well, that was" Robin began, but liz's laughter cut him off.

"Oh sorry, but I've never seen mirror move do anything like that before." liz said after her laughter calmed down.

"But that move? That. was, mine?" Sarah asked in shock.

"It was." Robin confirmed.

"It looked, so, stupid."Sarah said in a whisper.

"Well, mirror move reflects the level of mastery the original user of the attack has." Robin explained calmly.

"And, how long, does mastery take?" Sarah asked in a trimbling voice.

"That depends on several issues." liz answered; still standing in front of me.

"Your determination isn't one of them, however your current lack of prier knowledge is." Robin said quietly as he began to walk again.

Liz moved into position so I could take her arm in sighted guide mode as sarah spoke again.

"I know I must start from the beginning, but I don't have a lot of time to do that." she explained as we all got moving once again.

"I'm not leaving yet sarah. We still have time, so you should use it." Hope said from the front of the group.

"I've been told about your situation, and how you want to support Hope on her chosen path, but unless you hone your skills, you won't be able to give much support to Hope, emotional or otherwise." Alder explained.

"All that aside, I've been given an incredible opportunity by the medical field, but just because I had no choice but to grow up really fast due to where and what I was born as doesn't mean you have to make the same choice." Hope explained.

"But I have to be their for you." Sarah argued.

"Not for the first few weeks you don't." Hope shot back.

"What's this about?" I asked before the conversation got so heated I'd never be able to follow it.

"Due to my unique powers, I've been given a chance to trabel the world on a rather big ship, helping out people and Pokémon while at the same time gaining more knolledge regarding said powers." Hope explained.

"And those first few weeks?" I asked.

The ship I'm to spend my time aboard is playing host to an academic conference of sorts, at which I'm giveng a presentation regarding my abilities." Hope explained.

"So sarah can spend that time being a kid, getting stronger, and having fun." alder concluded.

"That's right." Hope confirmed.

By this time, we'd arived at Alder's house.

"And I won't be using my powers on anyone in a life or death situation during that time, so rest easy until the conference is over okay?" Hope asked sarah during the time it took for Alder to open the door.

"Good evening." said a voice that I recognized immediately as trey's."

"Same to you!" I said as he vacated a chair almost in front of me.

"But what are you doing here? I thought you were with Juniper. Hope asked as the rest of my friends came in with alder.

"I was." said Trey before adding, "I guess Alder did not tell you yet."

"I'm betting the fact that we ran into some new friends had something to do with that." Chris put in.

"It did indeed. Completely ruined my pitch." laughed Alder.

"Oh well, stuff happens. So, can we all have a seat? Liz seems to think we need to discuss a few things away from prying ears." I said.

Trey lead me to a chair as the rest of my friends took seats.

"Trey, our new friends are Robin, the Pidgeot, and the Azumarill is, apparently, someone named Christina brightstar, daughter of Crystal brightstar of brightstar Limited." I explained.

"Well, to get right to the point, she's more or less the reinventor of the modern computer age after her Joule OS put all others to shame." christina explained.

"Joule OS? as in, operating system?" I asked.

"We are still talking about a Marill here right?" I asked; trying to get my head around the fact that a Marill; a rat of all things; was some how responsible for the current state of this world's computer status.

"Yes we are. She made your Pokédex to." alder explained.

"Okay? and her company is this brightstar Limited right?" I asked.

"That's right. and the reason I didn't want us discussing this stuff outdoors in public is because I don't want people trying to harass you or Christina in order to get to Crystal. Not every one is okay with a giant Marill practically running the Pokémon trainer world after all." Liz explained.

"You have seen this crystal?" Trey asked.

"Seen, but I've never spoken to her. she's a little taller than me by the way." Liz replied; the last part in my direction.

"I've engaged her in conversation in dealing with a few of my prier masters. She's, a little bit odd, but she knows her stuff." robin added.

"What kind of life did you lead?" Alder asked in amazement.

"I'd rather not talk about it now. I am trying to get away from it after all." Robin answered lightly.

"Okay. well while I process all this, what did you invite Trey here for?" I asked; not sure what would come next.

"Well he's here to see your first battle."

"I can only battle with sarah and Hope right now, so I'd better not be battling you."

"No no." Laughed Alder. "It's two trainers I'm teaching. They'll be here in the morning, but I thought I could give you another free night.

And judging by that littel demonstration Robin and Sarah treated us to, your first training session didn't go as planned, so I'm thinking you could use another free night right about now."

"You're right. Sarah's pretty beat, and Robin could also use some TLC as well, but he probably has that by now with Hope having done her thing earlier." I said.

Alder began putting things away.

"I invited Trey here because I wanted all of your friends on hand to partake in your first trainer battles." he explained.

"Single or double?" I asked; trying to keep up with Alder

"Just single for now. They each need someone else to battle besides each other."

"That makes sense. If they battle someone else, they can learn a new battle style." Liz added.

"You're on your way to forming a great team!" encouraged Alder.

"I don't know about great, but smart, that, I can understand. With the battle lock-out in place, I haven't really had a chance to see how they'd work together as a team yet." I explained.

"Would you like one?" Alder asked without missing a beat.

"Yes I would, but, against you? now?"

"Why not. We still have a few hours before bed, and Liz, Trey and Chris are your only team members who can still battle.

That, and, I'm itching for a battle right about now. That is, if they want to."

Liz took some time to respond.

"What about the lock-out? Will you not get in trouble?"

Alder laughed. "I think, as a former champion, I have enough pull to let you three battle in an unofficial capacity, even if it's just for tonight."

"But, as a former champion, doesn't that mean your Pokémon are really strong?" sarah asked.

I started to translate for Alder, but Trey beat me to it.

"It does sarah, but, for Pokémon at their level, I'm probably one of the only trainers in Unova that could give them a real challenge, aside from the elite four.

"All right, I'm in." said Liz.

"I guess that I am in to. This was not what I planned to do here tonight, but sure! I may as well see if all of my training paid off or not." Trey replied.

"I may as well test out my new body so, count me in as well." Chris said.

"Great! It looks like we have ourselves a battle. As you only have three Pokémon Michael, I shall only use three as well, or, to say it officially; for the younger Pokémon in the crowd, we have a three-on-three battle."

"That works for me, but can I have a few minutes to look over their stats?" I asked.

"I'll give you five minutes or so. I really want to see how you do with them, out of the box, so to speak, but you need to know what moves they have, so take some time to learn what moves they each have, and I'll go prep the arena and my Pokémon for battle."

Alder left smartly as I took out my Pokédex; that, somehow; was programmed by a giant Marill.

I'd deal with that revelation later, but for now, I had a battle to; hopefully; win.

About six minutes later, Alder was back.

"well, everything's ready." he announced.

I got up from where I'd been sitting while looking over the data my Pokédex supplied for each of my friends.

"Do you wish to use your cane?" Liz asked.

"Yes, it's short enough of a walk for that." I answered as I gently pushed Liz's arm away.

Within twenty seconds, my Pokémon and I were in Alder's battle arena located in the back of his house.

As soon as the door closed behind us, Alder's personality changed.

Now. You're challenging me to a three on three battle, and I'm going to come at you with everything I have.

The only concession I'll make is this."

He sent out three Pokémon.

"Seeing as I know your three Pokémon, it's only fair that you know mine. So for this battle, I'll be using Bouffalant, Vanilluxe and my pride and joy, Volcarona."

As Alder introduced them, each of his Pokémon came forward and made a sound.

"Now, just so you know, I'm probably not going to use them in that order, but I will send out Bouffalant as my first Pokémon.

Now choose a pokémon, and call your first move." Alder challenged.

"Okay, so do any of you three feel up to taking out that Bouffalant?" I asked.

(I'm not so good in the physical department.) declared Liz.

"Chris?"

"What's up?"

"Think you could"

"Way ahead of yuh." Chris said as he took the field.

"Okay, let's start with a fakeout Facade combo!"

Bouffalant took the hits and didn't seem phased at all

(This could be a problem) I thought as I said out loud, "Follow up with headbutt!"

"Reversal!" Alder commanded.

"You to! I shouted.

The two reversal attacks collided in midair, but Chris got thrown back a good ways.

Chris climbed to his feet saying, "Okay, that didn't turn out so good."

I couldn't help but agree with him.

"If close-up attacks won't work, then stay back and use Thunderbolt!" I commanded.

"You got it boss!" Chris replied.

I'll never forget what happened next; absolutely nothing.

"Chris?" I prompted.

"That's so weird. I can't use that move. I try to do what needs to be done to execute that move, but nothing happens." Chris said; more perplexed than scared.

"Would you like me to take over for you?" asked Trey in a soft voice that showed his understanding of Chris' plight.

"No, I can manage." Chris answered; not sounding phased in the least.

"I didn't plan on you finding this out in such a way," began Liz, "but if you need one of us to step in, just call for us. Okay?"

"Okay." Chris said as he took the field once more.

"I guess we have to stick with close-range moves. Watch out for those horns and see if you can land a Mega kick without taking damage yourself." I said.

"Stop Raichu with Head Charge!" Alder commanded.

"In between the horns now!" I shouted.

Chris got my meaning and landed his attack below the horns while staying between them.

The assault only seemed to anger the giant creature, however, and it countered by using Head Charge to send Chris flying across the arena.

"Earth Quake." Alder calmly commanded.

As Chris landed, Bouffalant executed a perfectly timed Earth Quake.

Chris screamed in pain, and, I could swear I heard glass; or something like it; braking.

"What in the world? Why did he have mirrors on his" Alder began before going silent.

"They weren't mirrors." Chris began, "They're psychic reflectors, and I think they were their to make it look like I still had electric powers."

"I'm sorry. I didn't" Liz began.

"I don't think you would hurt me on purpose." Chris cut in, "but how bad is it?"

He picked up a peace of the 'glass' from the floor.

"That bad huh?" he asked. "Only the nerve endings are left. Oh well, can't change the past." he said; more to himself than to any of us.

He walked over to Liz.

"I guess you and I were on some kind of quest to get that fixed huh?"

"indeed we were, but no luck has come our way in that regard." Liz answered sadly.

"Oh well, guess we keep on, keepen on." Chris answered; dropping the 'glass', and rubbing his cheeck at the same time.

"You want to keep going?" I asked as Liz used her powers to remove the glass from the field.

"Sure thing." he responded as he enterd the battle area once more.

"Chris, use" I began, but stopped when I caught a whiff of a strangely sweet aroma.

"Where's that smell coming from?" I asked as I tried to localise the sourse of the smell.

"Um, I think, it's coming, from me." chris said slowly.

"How's that possible?" I asked.

"He's alolan." Robin responded from a ways away.

"What's that?" we all asked.

"Not a what, a where. It's like Kanto and jotoh, but it has no gyms or league." Robin replied.

"That's probably why we haven't heard of it before. Please, continue." Alder offered.

"back when I first started, having owners, my second one wanted me to see both the world and how humans handled Pokémon.

To that end, we stopped off in Vermilion City to battle the gymleader Lt. Surge.

I didn't take part of course, but the person ahead of us was from this alola place, and he kept going on and on about how Surge's raichu was so different than the ones he'd battled."

"And the details match up with what Chris is doing now?" Alder asked.

"They do." Robin confirmed.

"Okay. so let's see what you can do Chris." Alder challenged.

Seeing as Alder had just given me the okay to see what chris could do, I gave the command once more.

"Chris, please try to use thunderbolt, okay?"

"I'll sure try." he said, and I heard him take a new stance.

"You've got the poze down pat." Alder commented.

"Sure but that's allll" Chris trailed off quietly.

"What!" Liz and I exclaimed.

"Something weird here. It feels so, happy." Chris said in a trance.

Suddenly, Liz was in front of me, taking some kind of attack chris was putting off while gasping deeply.

after a second or so, she did something to him that caused him to cry out before falling to the ground.

"Sorry Chris, but those are latent psychic powers you're throwing out, and as your friend I can't allow you to use them without first learning to control them." she said in a rush.

"I can control them right?" he asked weekly.

"I see no reason why not. Your powers are already coming from a good happy place, and that's the hardest thing for a psychic Pokémon to learn to do. I had to disable your powers for the night. and I'm deeply sorry if I've caused you any pain." Liz said as she picked him up.

"Pain? No Liz, I feel great!" Chris said.

"That's because you were blasting out your psychic energy with reckless abandon." liz chalenged.

"Oh no!" Chris exclaimed; still week.

"Don't worry. You have my word we'll get to the bottom of this." Liz said firmly.

"I'll help however I can." I offered.

"Good, because, vary soon, you're going to start learning about psychic powers as I teach chris about them. And after that, well we'll just see what happens between the two of us." liz said.

"So, I guess I'm out of the battle?" Chris asked.

"For safety reasons, yes." Liz replied as Trey walked over to stand by us.

"You and your Pokémon handle yourselves well in a tight spot, but, what now?" Alder asked me.

"Liz, I know you said"

"Don't you even give the matter a second thought. I'll just have to" Liz began before Trey's small furry hand landed on my shoulder.

"Please, I can do this. Please let me finish what Chris began. I feel bad for him."

"I do to, But, please be careful Okay?"

"I will." Trey said as he left my side and stepped onto the battlefield.

"Bouffalant Head Charge!" Alder commanded.

Bouffalant headed for Trey with a strong Head Charge.

I opened my mouth to give an order, but that was as far as I got.

Trey made a dismissive sound, and Bouffalant stopped in his tracks; causing all of us to gasp except Alder, who just stood their quietly.

"Strange, most Wigglytuff don't choose to remember disable." he said calmly.

"You never know what will come in handy. That is why I keep all of my moves in top form, and I never let go of any of the knowledge I have gained." Trey confidently shot back.

He then did a vary strange thing, he seemed to take flight.

"That's not going to save you! Bouffalant return!" Commanded Alder.

As the creature began to leave the field, Trey suddenly rushed in and delivered two fast kicks that did a lot of damage.

"A kick version of Pursuit?" chris asked.

"clever. Not only did you disable my Bouffalant's strongest move, but you also found a way to deal damage to his weekness without taking damage yourself." Alder reflected.

"I've never seen a Wigglytuff move so fast!" Liz exclaimed.

"Vanilluxe, take the field and use Ice Beam!" Alder Commanded.

The ice cream cone fired a huge beam of ice in Trey's direction, but the surprisingly nimble Wigglytuff just dodged again.

I couldn't suppress my amazement any longer.

"Wow Trey! But you cant dodge forever, you have to"

I never finished my sentence, because I heard Trey flop against Vanilluxe.

"Don't let him drink you dry! Rapid-fire Ice Shard now!"

Trey flew away before the ice creature could hit him, and the attacks also seemed to have less power now.

(Did he just drink some of Vanilluxe's, um, insides?)

(As strange as that sounds, the answer is yes.) Liz answered back.

"Now your Pokémon is weakened." Trey cried

Alder began to laugh. "Well well Trey, I've never seen that technique used as a battle strategy. Good thinking on your part, but I have a way out of this. Vanilluxe return, and Volcarona, smoke him out."

The moth began to spread fire across the upper part of the room, and Trey began to cough.

"Get out of their Trey! Return now!" I screamed over the building sound of the fire.

Trey came back toward me, but Alder was ready.

"Fire Blast!"

The fire in the room became a huge ball of fire that smack squarely into trey; seeming to do a lot of damage.

Trey fell into my arms, and I noticed how hot he was.

"Trey?" it was Hope from the sidelines. "come here. let me heal your pain."

"I am not" began Trey.

"Yes you are, even if you don't want to admit it." Hope broke in.

"At the vary least, let me cool you down." Sarah added.

"Go to them. Please let them help you." I said.

"Okay, but call me if I am needed." Trey said before moving off to join the, um, medics.

"Okay, just lay down right here and let me put some water on you." Sarah said vary gently.

Trey did as he was asked, and I then noticed Christina blowing out lots of air.

"What are you doing?" asked Trey.

"Trying to help Sarah out, but, I seem to have lost Water gun now as well." Christina said, and I suddenly noticed I could understand her.

(I thought that)

(It seems that us taking her in for the night counts as having her as a team mate.)

)I guess that makes sence.)

Trey sighed with relief as Sarah's water cooled him down.

"Christina, can you prop up Trey's head? He got a nasty burn on his forehead I need to tend to."

"Sure thing Hope."

(Liz, can you take over for Trey?)

(You feel the need to ask?) Liz asked with a little laugh as she took the field.

"Hah! Now we've got them. Volcarona, Overheat full power!" Alder called.

"Bend the flames around you and try to move in close."

Liz did as I asked, and Alder let out a gasp.

"Okay, neat trick Liz, but it won't work. Volcarona, spread your flames into a wall in front of Liz."

The moth knew what its master wanted, and started to build a wall of flames toward the ceiling.

I thought Liz would use Teleport to avoid the flame wall, and continue her head-long rush, but she instead vaulted over the wall before it could reach the ceiling.

She then proceeded to land two kicks on the fire moth.

Reinforced with psychic power, these kicks drove the fire moth to the ground, where Liz then landed on top of it.

"Point-blank Psychic." I said; no longer needing to yell.

"Fight her Psychic with yours!" Alder commanded.

The two attacks clashed, and I guess Alder didn't want a stalemate, because he yelled "Rapid Quiver Dance!"

(we're all goners if you don't disable that Quiver Dance.)

(I'm already on it.) Liz replied.

I could feel Liz's willpower as she tried to disable the Quiver Dance.

Liz and Volcarona must have had equal willpower, because both pokémon ended up on opposite sides of the field.

Volcarona staid down, but Liz climbed shakily to her feet.

Alder checked Volcarona for injuries, then recalled it to its ball.

Liz was panting and swallowing profusely, but otherwise seem fine.

What happened?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing much, I just lost my psychic powers, that's all." Liz responded.

"For how long?"

"I don't know, for a few hours, at the vary least.

"I shouldn't have asked you to do that."

"If I had any reservations about going through with your command I would have said so. This isn't the first time this has happened to me."

"I shouldn't have tried that in a battle like this." Alder piped up.

"It wasn't your Volcarona's fault, and it wasn't the command you gave either. Basically when our attacks collided, they canceled each other out, but the will power involved all came back toward me.

I shut down my psychic receptors to prevent an overload, so it's all me. This does mean however that I am benched as far as this battle is concerned."

"So how come Volcarona was just laying around?" Sarah asked.

"He probably just went into shock. Give him a little time." Robin said unexpectedly.

"Volcarona's done for the night." Alder said as Trey stepped forward. "So I shall once again"

A beeping sound stopped him mid sentence.

"What does that sound mean?" asked Trey.

"It signals braking news, but it had better be important news at this hour." Alder said as we made our way back to the front of his house.

"What does this news relate to?" I asked.

"Most likely to the league or the championship status. All current and previous champion stay apprised of all developments concerning the league."

"They wouldn't be reporting about chanpionship status this late, would they?" Liz asked.

"All championship challenges are held in private, so it's possible." Alder admited.

We arrived in his sitting room. "Hello in here please." Alder said to the air.

The beeping stopped, and a message must have appeared on a screen somewhere, because Alder exclaimed, "No way in a million years!"

"What happend?" Robin asked.

"It seems that someone beat the national league with just one attack!" answered Liz.

Christina spoke up, "They can't make that claim without proof! Can they?"

"Oh, we have proof, it's downloading right now." said Alder.

"But I thought that beeping ment that news was already here." I added.

"That's usually the case," Alder said while typing on his keyboard, "I've requested some rather special video footage to be downloaded, in this case, video from multiple survailence cameras.

You see, when one of these matches is held, we film it with professional camera's, but I need the survailence footage so I can construct the events in 3d."

"What does 3d mean?" Asked Sarah uncertainly.

To my surprise, Robin answered.

"It means that one can take a flat picture and make it more like real life, in so much as being able to change how the picture is viewed.

This makes it easier to spot details you could mis in a flat or 2d prospective."

The pc beeped, and Alder began to rapidly click his mouse.

"What are you doing?" Asked Trey; moving closer to get a better look.

"Lining up all of the video files."

Trey then gasped.

"Oh, sorry about that. I should have warned you about that flash. It's how we make sure everything is in sync."

"Can we get sound?" I inquired.

"After I sync everything up. I can then apply the soundtrack, that shouldn't take to much longer."

While Alder finished his work, Liz and I found chairs and sat in front of the pc.

Robin then came up to me.

"I'll have a really good vantage point from here." he said by way of an explanation.

"I don't mind." I said as alder finished his work.

"Okay, now we should be able to see, and hear, what caused the fastest loss in pokémon league history." Alder said.

The soundtrack kicked in then.

"We good?" a voice asked.

"The challenge issued by," the voice cut out for a second, "Will now begin."

"Oh sorry, we block out the names in case of hackers." Alder explained.

A muffled voice said something.

"You're kidding right?" Asked the person who was apairently the commentator.

"Can we clean that up?" I asked.

"Let me." christina said, moving in front of the screan.

"Can you mewt the commentator?" I asked.

"Sure thing, but" Alder said before getting it.

That part of the video was put on a loop, and christina stood there, moving her ears back and forth rapidly.

Suddenly, she began to speak in a strange way.

"I must request to face the entire national league all at once." A pause, and then,

"It must be this way. My powers are so great, I could quite easily destroy a single target in one attack."

"How is she doing that?" robin asked.

"If you're wondering how Christina is speaking english, it's because of the speach TM that was used on her. The most commen side effect, is that the pokémon can mimic english, but not ever speak it again."

The video continued. "You can't take this decision back after the battle starts." An official said.

"I won't need to. My intent is to preserve the entegraty of all pokémon present." said a woman's voice that sounded kind of snobbish.

My blood went cold, because I recognized the Challenger's voice.

"What's her name?" I asked.

"Someone you know?" asked Alder.

"No, not directly, at least if it's who I think it is. What does she look like?"

"Like she'd be better off as an elevator made or something.

Let's see, the log lists her as Elizabeth, no home town, no last name either, now that I look."

"Oh boy." I growned.

Suddenly, Sarah let out an exclaimation.

"All those Pokémon? How is she going to"

Everyone gasped.

`She doesn't even have a Pokémon on the field!" Alder exclaimed.

"What happened?" I asked; dreading the answer.

"It lookgh like a big, something, fell out of the sky and knocked all those Pokémon out." Trey explained.

"Can I please see that again?" Liz asked.

"You and me both." mutturd Alder as he rewownd the recording.

"I'm going to put it in frame step mode." Alder pressed a control.

He then pressed it rappidly until Robin began to squalk.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!"

"What!" we all asked.

"Right their! I see something!"

"Right where?" I asked.

"Robin clicked his beek.

"Where your beek is pointing?" Alder confirmed.

robin nodded, and Alder began zooming in.

"Call me crazy, but that looks like one of the fae to me." said Alder.

Ten minutes earlier...

The brite flash covered the battle field as the shock wave from the medior's impacked elimenated all resistance.

the many pokémon assimbled before the young woman fell to the ground with no will to continue fighting.

The spectral pixy responsible for the attack returned to the woman's side without fanfair.

"Great, now what?" mumbled some of the trainers.

"Gentalmen and ladies," the young woman intoned, "It is not my desire to bring harm to anyone here in this room, or in this world.

But I, Elizabeth, must secure my release from this world immediately.

In less than three days, the equivalent of your Arceus will brake free from its prizzen and destroy another world i've come to care for very much.

So I must escape from here and renew the seal before it is to late."

An older lady stepped forward.

"So, I take it, you came here, to this world, against your will?"

"Indeed. And, if I had the time to get to this place according to the laws of this world, I most cirtainly would have."

"Okay, so all you want is access to the portal in the hall of fame room?

Fine. Just get out of here and we can all forget this imbairasing situation ever happened."

"That was my plan. Are all your pokémon okay?"

The trainers fell to, checking their pokémon with physical sinces as well as those provided through technilogical means.

It was finally decided that all pokémon were just knocked out and would be fine by the morning.

"Good, that's a relief." Elizabeth said before heading for the adjacent room.

"So, now what?" one of the trainers asked the older woman after Elizabeth had left.

"Do we just go back to the way things were before this event?"

"I think that would be the best thing. Noone outside of this room need ever know of what happend here today."

"So I still have my title?" asked a woman slightly younger than elizabeth.

The older woman opened her mouth to respond, but a loud boombing shook the tower before she could speak.

Elizabeth came flipping back into the room, went sliding half way across the florr and stopped without any sign of being hert.

"I guess the portal didn't like the fact that you took every shortcut possible to get here." The young woman scoffed.

"Now Iris, don't be that way. It's obvious something's vary wrong." the older woman replied.

"even I can see that Cynthia; with all do respect." Iris replied.

Elizabeth climbed to her feet and faced Cynthia.

"That portal is ment for one other than myself."

"What are you going to do, now that you can't leave this world?"

Elizabeth opened her mouth to respond, but a tower gard enterd the room; breathless from a fast climb.

"Ms. Elizabeth?" he asked.

"That's me." she said, turning to face him.

"Do you by any chance know someone by the name of Margaret?"

Elizabeth brightened. "She's my sister. She'll know how I can"

"Elizabeth!" yelled a voice from down the stairs.

A rather severe-looking woman enterd the room. she looked a lot like Elizabeth, but unlike her younger sister, Margaret was all business.

"You used your persona against these people!" Margaret yelled; it wasn't a question.

"I had to if"

Margaret raised a hand, cutting Elizabeth off midd sentence.

"You know that isn't allowed."

Elizabeth nodded at her sister, then turned to the e4 and champions gathered in the room.

"Answer me this, please. Is their any conceivable way that someone can raise a team of Pokémon to face you fine trainers if only given two and a half days?" she asked.

They all shook there heads.

"at the vary least, you're looking at a year, and that's only if you're vary lucky, and have lots and lots of money." Cynthia told Margaret.

"If I didn't have to renew the seal on Erebus, that wouldn't be a problem." Elizabeth said to Margaret.

"I may not have the finesse you do, but I can take care of Erebus, just this once." Margaret answered.

"Besides which, time flows differently here. Instead of two and a half days, you have more like four months. still not enough time to raise a team to defeat these trainers though." Margaret added.

"So, how offten do you have to renew this seal?" asked Iris.

"Once a year." elizabeth and Margaret answered; as Iris wasn't looking at either one when she asked her question.

"So if two days is now four months or so, then, does that mean that Elizabeth has more than a decade she can spend here?" Iris asked Margaret.

"At the vary least child. why do you ask?"

"I have me an idea." Iris said; turning back to face Cynthia in the process.

"How long would it take to turn elizabeth here into a gym leader?"

Cynthia didn't take to long to respond.

"I see where you're going." She said before turning to face Elizabeth.

"If you're willing to sign a ten-year contract, we can turn this hole situation into something that can benifit the entire world. You see, we've drafted a new set of rules that will hopefully make better trainers out of the existing trainer poole, and help new trainers avoid some of the pit falls that existing trainers have been facing, practicly since dot. But if we ever hope to implement these rules, we need someone to fill the position of dark type gym leader."

"What is a gym leader?" asked Margaret.

"A powerfull trainer who tests the metal of other trainers and awards them for having a strong bond with their pokémon, and demonstrating sound strategies in battle." answered elizabeth.

"So, I take it, that, you would also need to have a strong bond with your Pokémon to achieve this?" Margaret asked after a moment of reflection.

"That's the general idea." answered Cynthia.

Margaret turned to her sister. "This sounds like it's just what you need at the moment."

Elizabeth nodded to Margaret, then faced the room in general. "I'll do it. You have just obtained a dark gym leader."


	4. Chapter 4

Attached

A Pokémon Persona Crossover Fanfiction

by Three Black Noises

Chapter 4

Christina woke with a start. At first she had no idea why she was awake, or what had woken her.

She flicked her ears to see if they'd picked up something, and, sure enough, they had. She followed them outside and she was lead to Sarah.

Right away, Christina could tell that the aquatic bird was extremely distraught, and she felt she knew why.

"Trouble sleeping?" she asked from a safe distance.

Sarah turn to see who had spoken, and ended up blasting Christina with water.

"Oh, it's just you, sorry." Sarah said; somewhat embarrassed.

"Oh that's quite all right, but what are you doing out here at four thirtyish in the morning?"

"Well," Sarah hesitated, "I'm scared of letting Michael down this morning." She finally finished.

Sarah moved a little closer before continuing.

"This will be my first real battle you see, and I don't want to be the weakest link, especially because it's just me and Hope this morning."

"Oh come on." Christina said; placing her tail ball on Sarah's head, "Michael isn't going to chunk you if you lose one battle, just go out their and do your best this morning."

"I'm not worried about being dumped, I'm worried that the one move I know won't be enough to win the day."

"I'm not sure I'm the best Pokémon to ask if you want a teacher," began Christina.

"Maybe we can help each other." Sarah cut in.

"I doubt that, but I guess it couldn't hurt to try."

"Well, maybe you just need someone to talk things over with. Do you remember anything at all about how to battle?"

"Of course I, Oh, you mean how many attacks can I remember? Well, their's a lot of stuff banging around in here," Christina pointed to her head, "But nothing makes sense."

"Does something get away from you the more you try and remember it?" asked Sarah.

"Yeah, that sounds about right. I mean I try thinking about how to use water gun and I get, call the water from, mango, tree sap, girder, blast, phase"

Sarah started laughing.

"What?" asked Christina.

"Even a stupid bird like me can figure this out. Your talking TM is getting mixed up with everything else. Just try thinking about water in general."

Christina closed her eyes and began mumbling to herself.

"Water, flowing water," she switched to English, "Cool refreshing water on my skin, babbling brook HYDRO PUMP!"

"Use it." Sarah said calmly, and Christina did as asked, releasing a stream of water that sent Sarah flying high into the air. Christina caught her as she fell, and the two of them began an impromptu dance on the spot.

"So," Sarah began casually, "How does it work?"

"Oh, that's easy!" Christina launched into an extremely detailed technical description of Hydro Pump; switching between her own language and English as she did so.

Suddenly, she fell over on her side and appeared to fall asleep. Liz came out a few seconds later.

She took Sarah in her arms and walked back into the house; leaving Christina where she'd fallen.

"Shhhhh." Liz said as Sarah drew breath to speak.

Once they were back in the room Alder had assigned them for sleeping, Sarah turned to Liz.

"what got in to you? Christina was just starting to"

"I know. You're thinking I did a vary bad thing, but you'd be wrong. In truth, we may have done something incredible tonight."

"Oh really? May I ask what that is?" Sarah asked; a little calmer now.

"You may indeed. You got Christina's mind working like it should, and I helped her into a state where her mind can put things where they belong."

"and I guess leaving her outside is part of this process?"

Liz sighed before asking, "How much do you know about instinct?"

"I know it tells you what to do when you don't know what to do."

Liz laughed, "Yeah, something like that. At least you get the concept anyway.

Christina's instincts aren't working right. She's been dehydrated for sometime now, but all last night she kept asking for drinks of water like she was a human, and not for a bath tub full of water or where to find a clean source of water like any other Azumarill should have done."

"So, what, once she wakes up, she should start asking us to help her find water?"

"More like begging us." Liz laughed.

An hour should tell the tale, but until then, we need our sleep. Liz said as she climbed back into bed.

Michael's POV

I awoke to the sound of someone at our window.

"Can someone please let me in?"

It was Christina, but how she got outside during the night; I had no clue.

I could tell that almost everyone else was already up.

I heard Chris go to the window as Liz nudged me gently.

"Please don't be alarmed, but Sarah and I managed to get Christina back to normal, and this is just the proof of that."

Chris got the window open, Christina clambered in, and the both of them managed to get the screen back in place and close the window. I have to admit, it was; at the vary least; interesting to listen to.

"You do know that we do have a door, right?" asked Hope.

"It was locked." Christina said as she came over to me.

"Hay Michael, can I take a bath?" she asked somewhat breathless.

I started to reply, but a sound from the direction of the bathroom stopped me.

"Hay guise? Which one's the haa" Squirt! "aaaaah"

More sounds of nobs being turned, "Never mind!" yelled Sarah.

Despite my just waking up, I couldn't help laughing at the situation.

A door opened somewhere else, and I heard Alder say, "What the heck is going on at, seven in the morning?"

"Sorry mister alder sir." came Sarah's reply.

Alder started laughing.

"Are you trying to take a bath?" he asked with something like mischief in his voice.

"No, but Christina needs one badly."

Everyone except me gasped.

"What?" I asked; not knowing what was going on.

"So where is Christina?" the conversation continued.

"I have to get her."

"That won't be necessary."" I never heard Christina move, but she apparently had.

"Thank you Alder for your hospitality, and thank you dear Sarah for all your help as well." she finished.

"Oh you're quite welcome, but you better hurry and get in before you get any drier."

Liz put her hand on my shoulder like she had done when Christina was speaking last night.

"Pip pip lu laa plip Christina lup pup."

"You fixed Christina?" a pause; probably for a nod, "That's great! Good job Sarah." alder finished.

"lup. Liz Piplup pip."

(She can say names now?)

(It sure seems that way.) Liz answered as I heard Christina climb into the bathtub.

"Liz helped to?" a pause, then, "You're not one to take someone else's credit are you?"

Alder came into our room a minute or so later.

"I can say this, Life won't be dull in your group."

"Yeah. I'm coming around to that same conclusion myself." I said just as Sarah came back into the room.

"I'm sorry I didn't ask first, but, I just wanted to help Christina a little more." she said as she came to my side.

"I know you meant well, but, yeah, you really should have asked first." I replied after a few seconds.

I heard a rood sound from down the hall, followed by a rather strange squelching slurping sound.

"Okay?" asked Robin.

The slurping sound came again.

"What in the world?" Robin asked.

"It would seem that the pretty water rabbit is regaining her water." Trey said from what sounded like a few steps behind Robin.

"Why thank you so much Trey for thinking I'm pretty." Christina said.

By that time, everyone except Christina had rejoined me in the room where I'd slept.

"So," began Alder. "The morning's young, we're all up, and I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm thinking we get some food in us and then start on the planning phase of the battle for this morning."

"It's only seven. What time are the two trainers coming anyway?" I asked.

"Somewhere around nine. I expect you'll want to get in some practice before the real thing?"

"I was kind of hoping for some practice myself so, yeah, good call, and, thanks again for everything alder." I said.

The "planning" phase was little more than deciding what Pokémon I'd be allowed to use during the upcoming match. I'd sent Sarah and Hope to the battle room to practice by themselves, and Alder and I had just come to an agreement that they'd be the only participants when the doorbell rang, and Robin got up to answer it after explaining that one of the "skills" he'd needed when under one of his previous trainers was being a doorman.

Alder quietly got up and headed for the battle room, presumably to check on Hope and sarah.

A gasp and a scream followed Robin's opening of the door.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Maybe we have the wrong house?" asked a girl's voice in a kind of joking manner.

"Not unless Alder moved his house over night." answered a boy in the same way.

"You indeed have the proper place of residence, but may I asked what business you have here on this fine morning?"

"well, I'm Seymour, and this is Cassie, and we're here for our 9 o'clock session with Alder." the boy explained.

"I see. Might I ask you to wait here while I confirm your appointment?"

Cassie spoke up. "Can we at least wait inside?"

"I suppose." Robin answered as he opened the door.

Both children came in and Robin; somehow; shut the door behind them, then asked them; once again; to wait, then smartly left the room, heading for the back of the house.

"Nice bird." Cassie said after Robin was safely out of ear-shot.

"Thanks? I think." I said; not knowing what else to say.

I heard Robin say something to Alder as they came down the hall. I couldn't make it out, but I did hear Alder say, "Yes, that would be a big help. Thank you."

He came into the room just then, and the children moved to greet him.

"So, what are we doing today?" Seymour asked.

"What else? Battling!" Alder exclaimed.

"But we've battled each other so much it's not even a challenge anymore." Cassie complained.

"Oh, that's okay. You'll be battling him today." Alder said.

I figured he'd be pointing at me, so I stood and introduced myself formally.

Liz did the same as Sarah and Hope came into the room with Christina following close behind with chris in tow.

After all introductions were made, Alder explained that I'd only be using sarah and Hope in the battles; in that order; and we then adjourned to the battle room where Trey and Robin were waiting.

Alder handed the children one Poké Ball each.

"Sarah and Hope are both vary new to this trainer battling thing, as this will be their first real battle against anyone even remotely considered a trainer.

Liz, Chris and Trey had their first attempt last night against yours truly." Alder explained.

"So Alder, who has the advantage?" Cassie asked.

"I'm not telling! But that's because I really have no idea. You see, I had Robin randomize

the Poké Balls before we got here, and he didn't know what either of the Poké Balls contained before he did his thing. All that aside, you'll both be full fledged trainers in about a week, so I won't be giving you any pointers during your final lesson."  
After about fifteen seconds, Seymour said, "Well, I guess I'm going first."

We both took our positions.

"Sarah?" I asked.

"Yes?"

"I choose you."

"What? Oh, okay." she said as she came to take her place on my side of the arena.

"Michael," Alder began, "I'm not going to be helping you either. If you feel you do need help, please don't hesitate to call on your other Pokémon."

I nodded my understanding, but I also understood what Alder had just done.

In a rather shrewd way, he'd just taken himself out of the equation on both sides, while allowing the other Pokémon unable to participate directly to stay involved in the battle.

"So can I ask Cassie for help?" asked Seymour.

"Sure, but I'm staying out of it aside from calling the matches." Alder replied.

"Well then, let's go!" Seymour called as he threw his ball.

"Pansage!" the Pokémon called as it emerged to take the field.

"Oh dear, a Pansage." Liz said.

I pulled out my Pokédex and turned it on.

"What is that?" asked Seymour.

I thought about answering him, but decided to let the device do it for me.

"Pansage, the Grass Monkey Pokémon. A forest dweller by nature, Pansage shares the stress-relieving leaves on its head with weary-looking Pokémon.

This Pokémon also has a knack for berry gathering, and is kind enough to share them with friends."

As with all of the other entries, I also got a load of other info on the braille display including gender, male. height, 2 feet, and wait, somewhere around 23 pounds.

I also got Pansage's stats, level, 11, and all of his other stats, which were balanced between his two defensive and offensive stats.

"That's an odd-looking Pokédex." Cassie observed.

"Why isn't their a screen?" Seymour added.

"Oh, that'd be because I'm blind and have no need of it." I casually said.

"Then this battle's 'gunna be really quick, 'yanow, 'cause Sarah's outclassed in every way by my Pansage." Seymour said.

"If I'm victorious in any way, it's going to be making you at least sound your age, young man." Alder put in.

Oh, sorry alder sir." Seymour said before amending his previous statement.

"Then this battle is going to be really quick, seeing as Sarah's outclassed in every way by my Pansage."

"Better. Now you actually sound like someone worthy of using that Pokémon." encouraged Alder.

He waited a few seconds before shouting, "Battle, begin!"

"Wait!" Sarah shouted. "I need to let Michael know I learned peck while I was training just now, and also, who goes first?"

"Good question." I responded before looking in Alder's direction.

"Who goes first? Well, yes it is. In most cases, the trainer with the most skill starts the match, but I'd be willing to make an exception this time if Seymour here is willing."

"One more move isn't going to improve Sarah's chances, so, okay Michael, you can go first." Seymour answered.

"Okay, so," sarah began.

"Whatever you do, don't use water attacks." Chris said.

"You'll only help Pansage." Robin added.

"Just do your best." Trey encouraged.

"No trainer should expect more than that." Christina finished.

"Okay Sarah, all your long-range attacks are useless against Pansage so you're going to need to get in close to do any damage.

Try using tackle to help you move in a little faster, but be ready to try and dodge incoming attacks from Pansage, because I'm willing to bet they'll hurt a lot."

"Pansage, you use tackle to!" cried Seymour.

Both Pokémon ran at each other, but Pansage was fast, and succeeded in knocking Sarah to the ground.

"Vinewhip." Seymour commanded.

The vines lashed out and struck Sarah at least a dozen times.

"Sarah, grab the vines!" I called.

She did so; with some effort; and used them to pull herself to her feet.

"Now, get in close and use Peck!"

Sarah charged up her beak, and proceeded to peck away at the grass monkey with a staccato "Pip Pip Pip Pip Pip Pip."

"Using a trump card huh? Two can play that game. Pansage, Magical Leaf!" shouted Seymour.

"But" alder began, but he was cut off as Pansage threw a hole lot of leaves at Sarah.

She, sort of, staggered, back, then fell on her side, screaming at first, then moaning as she hit the ground.

I opened my mouth to give encouragement to her, but I never got the chance.

Her moaning suddenly turned into a growl as she stood up, then began charging toward Pansage.

The monkey kept firing leaves at her, but she didn't let the pain get to her again.

"You, Won't, Make Me Let Them Down!" She screamed as she charged.

She delivered a running peck to Pansage, then got hit with a particularly strong blast of magical leaf and fell again.

"Sarah!" I half screamed, half sobbed.

"No No NO NOOOOOO!" Sarah screamed as she stood once again.

She let out a pure scream without words as she ran flat-out toward Pansage again.

The scream changed in pitch as she got about half way to her goal, then she stopped in her tracks and kept on screaming.

The scream changed to a triumphant yell as it finally ended.

"You 'wunna mess with meeeeee! Bring it!" Sarah said after a few seconds.

(Did Sarah just) I thought.

(Yes. She evolved.) answered Liz.

Seymour didn't seem to be put off in the slightest by Sarah's sudden change.

"Don't let up Pansage! Just keep using Vinewhip and Magical Leaf until Sarah faints!" he shouted.

The grass monkey did as instructed, but Sarah just stood their and laughed.

"Really? That's the best you can do?" Sarah asked before grabbing one of Pansage's vines and using it to pull herself close to the monkey.

"well, take this Peck." She delivered a vary hard Peck attack to Pansage.

"And, faint!" she finished before letting go of Pansage; who quickly fell to the ground.

"Ummmm." Seymour said; not knowing anything else to say.

(How much of that did everyone else understand?) I asked Liz.

(None of it, and it wouldn't really matter if they did either.)

"Well, I have to call it." Alder said before calling, "Pansage is unable to continue, so Sarah wins the match!"

"Oh yeah, oh yeah! Me! Me! Me! I win!." Sarah shouted as she danced.

"Come on little girl, 'wathcha got huh? Bring it! Bring it! Bring it on!" sarah shouted in Cassie's direction.

(This isn't like Sarah at all.) I observed.

(No, she isn't. It's just the evolution high. Let's try to keep the battle going. Maybe we can burn it off so it doesn't take the Sarah we know away from us.) Liz recommended.

Liz's line of reasoning made sense to me, so I asked Cassie to go ahead with her challenge.

She sent out her Pokémon; a Pansear, and Sarah attacked before Alder had time to call for the match to begin.

"Sarah!" I called, but the water bird practically drenched the fire monkey in water.

Pansear used some kind of week fire move to lessen the damage of Sarah's attack, but she didn't let up in the least.

Cassie tried to give a command to Pansear, but Sarah just kept blasting him with water until he fainted dead away.

Alder didn't even bother calling the match, but Cassie didn't seem phased by her overwhelming loss.

Sarah didn't gloat this time, she simply turned and started to walk out of the room.

"You owe Pansear and I a fair fight!" Cassie called to Sarah's retreating back.

"Get stronger." Sarah said just before the door slammed.

"Now what?" I asked in the silence that filled the room soon after.

"I hate this." Hope said; coming over to stand beside me on my right.

"This is exactly what Sarah was trying to avoid." she continued.

Trey came over and stood on my left.

Leaning over, he gently pet Hope saying, "Now now. Let us just wait a little while."

"The evolution high?" I asked.

"Yes. It shall work itself out shortly, and then we shall deal with the Pokémon we will then have."

"I want the old Pokémon back." Hope said.

"I know." Trey said; reaching over to pet Hope again.

"You both made a strong showing, even though you both lost." I said to the two children; trying to pass the time.

"Well you can't win 'em all." said Seymour.

"And if you let every loss get you down, you can't be a vary strong trainer." Cassie finished.

"You have to try and take away something positive from every experience you have. In that way you become more knowledgeable, and eventually, stronger." Trey said; surprising us all.

"At least, that is what" Trey trailed off.

"What, Ruby, use to say, before, she" Trey trailed off again.

"This Ruby sounds vary wise." Alder commented, "and, she's right, by the way." he finished.

"Who is this Ruby?" asked Seymour.

"She was, is, my, elder sister." Trey slowly answered.

"Is she dead?" asked Cassie.

Trey let out a vary long, slow breath, then answered, "That, or, missing."

"We can find out real quick." Alder offered.

"How?" the two kids, trey and myself asked.

"Trainer's Eyes!" called Alder.

"Trainer's Eyes active." said a prerecorded voice.

Alder walked to one of the walls and began typing on what I thought to be one of those virtual keyboards.

"How long has she been missing for?" he asked.

"Try four years." replied Trey.

"All right. Dang it!"

"We aren't looking for an Onix." Cassie exclaimed.

"I know, but I'm used to the old numbering system." Alder explained.

"Let's try 15! Aah, that's much better! Form, Evolution, Aha! Their we go, Wigglytuff. How old is Ruby?"

"About six or so."

"Do you have any idea of what region she arrived in?"

"None of my people do. Sorry."

"That's fine."

He pressed a final key.

"It will take the app a few minutes to compile a list."

"How many trained Wigglytuff can their be?" Seymour asked.

"You'd be really surprised young man. Although most are just pillows or fashion statements." Alder allowed.

During that discussion, Robin walked over and acted like he was interested in how Alder was using the app.

"Is that bar at the bottom supposed to mean how long we have to wait?" he asked.

"Yes but" began Alder.

"Hay! What's this thing here?" Robin asked.

"No Don't Touch, that?" Alder said.

"Another app opened.

"Pokétube. Broadcast your Pokémon's talent to the world." Robin read.

"Oh it's like youtube." I said.

"Yes but no humans are allowed to appear anywhere on it." explained Alder.

"Why would their be a Pokétube link in an app that just looks for Pokémon?" asked Liz.

"I have no idea." answered alder.

An incredibly high-pitched voice issued from all of the speakers in the room.

"Hello. I'm Ruby, and I'd like to sing everybody a song I used to sing back home."

Trey practically jumped at the screen saying, "It is her!" over and over.

Then the song started, and everyone stood perfectly still and listened.

"I think I just might cry." Sarah said.

"How did" I began.

"During the song." she answered.

"Was that your sister?" Sarah asked.

"How in the!" I exclaimed along with everyone else; as I could have swarn I'd just heard sarah as a Piplup as well.

Prinplup came over to me and climbed into my lap.

While noticing how much heavier she was, I also looked her over; starting with her head.

As I got down to her bill, she forced it into my hands and held it their.

"Hello." she said.

"How can you both be here?" Robin asked.

"Yeah only one should remain. Oh well at least I get my rematch." Cassie said.

"What rematch?" Prinplup asked.

"You know, a redo of that battle just a few minutes ago, where you totally trounced Pansear?" Sarah asked.

"Hold it." I said.

"How did this happen?" I asked after quiet was restored.

"Well, we fought, and Piplup won, but I still wanted to stay." Prinplup began.

"Wait wait. Fought?" I asked.

"yes, in, our, minds." Prinplup explained as if to a vary dumb child.

"And as I came back to myself, Prinplup began to form in front of me." Sarah finished.

I thought about this for a few seconds, then it dawned on me.

"Persona." I said.

"Would this have anything to do with'

Alder was cut short by a knock at the front door.

I didn't hear it vary well, but Christina did, and let us know.

Most likely out of habit, Robin started for the front of the house, with the rest of us trailing not to far behind.

I started to use my cane, but Liz took me in sighted guide mode, and we did a vary fast jog to the front of the house instead.

The kids took up the rear, Alder, Robin, Chris, christina, Hope, and both versions of Sarah kept pace with us, but Trey was in the lead pretty much from the start, so it was he who answered the door.

Out of everyone it could have been, the last person I expected was standing on Alder's front porch.

"Good day." Margaret said to; I guess, alder.

"The same to you, and you are.,"

"Margaret, the one who rules over power." she answered as she came in and Alder locked up.

"You are the, older? Sister of Elizabeth? Correct?" asked Trey.

"I am, and before anyone asks, yes,

I'm aware of the surveillance devices that recorded my sister's, exchange with the champion league last night. Rest assured, you were the only other people privy to what happened last night, as it pertains directly to Michael's unique abilities in this world."

Margaret said all of this briskly as we all took seats.

"Not just me." I said.

"Someone else besides you summoned a persona just now?" asked Margaret.

Sarah, my Piplup, did, something, and Prinplup appeared.

"Hello." She said brightly before noticing Margaret.

"Are you a strange gardevoir?"

"No, I am, in fact one of the servants of Philemon, the demon who first gave humans the power of persona." Margaret answered.

"Persona, that's what I am?" Prinplup asked.

"You should be standing where Sarah is right now, or not at all." Seymour almost yelled.

"the persona ability is basically a method for allowing a person to bring into existence a, well a manifestation of what they imagine themselves to be." I supplied.

"That is quite a direct and accurate synopses of the persona ability." commented Margaret before adding, "At least so far as the video games of your world can describe it."

"So, what happens when I leave?" I asked; dreading Margaret's answer.

"As far as my master is able to determine, the rules of this world will fully take hold once again."

"So sarah will just evolve into a Prinplup?" Seymour asked.

"Or, what if, this is Sarah's chance to, talk to herself and get all the differences between her and Prinplup straightened out?" asked Cassie.

"That's definitely an option." Margaret agreed.

"So she is my persona?" asked Sarah.

"That is correct, for the time being." Margaret answered.

Silence ensued for a time, then; suddenly; Prinplup burst out,

"You know what Sarah? I for the life of me can't understand this hole selflessness thing, but I'm willing to try, if you'll agree to one condition."

"Please, name it." Sarah happily answered.

"You let me do what I think is best for your protection."

"Like battle for me?"

"No! I mean like, if I think you're going to be harmed in any way, you let me step in."

Sarah thought for a time.

"Like, Pokémon battle harmed?"

"No, I mean in the mortal sense."

"That won't be a problem, as long as you agree to my condition."

"And that is?"

"Be open, up front, and honest with me. I want to really know if you and I have any chance of reaching some kind of compromise regarding our two vary different life styles."

Prinplup thought for a time.

"Okay. We have a deal."

she made a loud watery breathy sound before continuing.

"You do realize, that this is going to be a huge stretch for me, don't you?"

"Prinplup, I know I'm asking a lot from you, some would even say to much, but if you have even a shred of me in you, I know you'll be able to understand my way of thinking with time.

For starters, why don't you just kind of, hang out in my head for a while, and watch me live.

I think you'll begin to understand."

Prinplup sighed heavily. "Okay, Sarah. For now, you win."

And with that she was gone.

"Wow." the two kids said.

"I'm betting any other Piplup would kill to do what you just did."Alder said.

"Most likely." Sarah answered before silence once again made itself our friend.

"So, Margaret, how, do I get home?" I asked.

"How do you think?" Their was no hint of back-talk in her voice, it was just the plane unvarnished question.

"If I had even the smallest hope that this world would make things easy for me, I'd say you could just open a door in the air and send me home. but life hasn't made itself easy for me yet, so, I'm guessing, the league is my ticket home."

"You're correct, and I assume you know how to go about that, so until we meat again."

Margaret got up and began to make for the door.

"wait!" I yelled on a whim.

"Yes?" she responded; turning to face me.

"Who's my persona?"

"don't you know?"

"What, I've already awakened?"

"Yes." Margaret opened the door and stepped out.

"When you kissed." she said over her shoulder; just before the door slammed.

"Wait! I have" I stopped talking, but Trey ran to the door and flung it open.

"Huh?" he said, then, "she is gone."

He closed the door just as Alder said, "That's not the half of it. When she left, she just stepped into nothingness."

That doesn't surprise me at all." I said.

I sat their in speechless disbelief at Margaret's last words for some seconds, before my mind began to consider the implications.

"Liz?" I asked with a shaky voice.

"All I did was bond like all Gardevoir do. Is she saying that I somehow became your persona?" She asked.

"It sure seems like it. Well their's one way to find out. How old are you?"

"I beg your pardon?" Liz asked; sounding just the slightest bit affronted.

"I know how that sounds, but I'm asking for a constructive reason, not to be nosy or, to be hitting on you."

"Well, if you must know, almost four years."

"Well that solves it. Their's no way you could be made just for me, or you would have poofed into existence just a few seconds after I arrived in this world. We'll get our answers, once I figure out how to get to the Velvet Room." I said; fingering the key in my pocket.

I reached out to touch Liz.

"Don't!" but it was to late.

My hand landed on her arm, just below her shoulder.

"what the!" The kids exclaimed. Liz gasped.

"Oh, she must have an illusion active." I explained.

"Well could you have her turn it off or move your hand?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah it looks kind of creepy passing half way through her dress." Seymour observed.

A few seconds passed, during which nothing seemed to happen.

Suddenly alder, Robin and Christina gasped.

"You were the one their that day!" Alder finally said.

"If you're referring to that dark day when an entire family of Espeon was killed? Yes." answered Liz.

"Oh, I remember seeing that on the news!" Seymour exclaimed before adding; in a spooky voice, "It stood out to me because noone knows what did the deed."

"And the case is still open to this day." Alder finished.

"Well, I did take the fur off of them before they bled out, after asking if it was okay of course, and I also tried to get any info they had on the killer." Liz explained.

"Did you get anything? It'd be more than we have." asked Alder.

Liz thought for a moment, then said; vary slowly,

"The only thing all of them seemed to agree on, was the fact that whatever attacked them, was, big, pink, and had no psychic signature what so ever."

"Okay? How big, is big?" asked Alder.

"Oh, about my size, give or take a few inches." Liz answered.

"A big Wigglytuff?" asked Seymour.

"Oh no. No fur at all, and it was to heavy, and it kind of lumbered around, to." finished Liz.

Alder seemed to get vary thoughtful, so I asked Liz,

"So, what does that, um, dress, do?"

"What? You mean, aside from being pretty?" asked Seymour.

"Oh, not a hole lot. It lights up in the dark, and lets me take 1 dark or ghost attack without taking damage once per day." Liz answered.

Alder suddenly headed for the back of the house again.

"Kids, I'll be in my study doing some research." he called over his shoulder.

"We can manage." they said as one.

"Does he do this a lot?" Robin asked after alder was safely out of ear shot.

"It depends on what he's researching, and if we have stuff that can keep us entertained in his absence." Cassie answered as Seymour went to a book shelf and took down a book.

"What's that?" Christina asked.

"Oh, just a book on the starter Pokémon. I figure this is our last half hour here so, we might as well decide what we want and learn about them."

"Well I'd prefer to learn as I go so, no book reading for me." Cassie said.

"I'd rather spend my last half hour battling one last time with Pansear against Sarah or Prinplup." she said after a moments pause.

"But we have no judge." Seymour pointed out.

"Yes we do." Liz answered.

"But you're a Pokémon." I told her.

"All the better to judge a Pokémon battle."

Five minutes later saw us all back in Alder's battle room, without Alder for the time being.

Liz stood in his place and called, "Trainers ready?"

"Ready!" Cassie and I said.

"Pokémon ready?"

Cassie called out her Pansear as Sarah walked forward.

"We're ready." they both said.

"Just a second." I called as I pointed my Pokédex at Pansear.

"Pansear, the High Temp Pokémon.

This Very intelligent Pokémon lives in caves in volcanoes.

When it is angered, the temperature of the fire within the tuft on its head can reach 600° Fahrenheit.

This hot fire lets Pansear roast berries before eating them.

Like Pansage, it likes to help people."

As I expected, Pansear's stats were identical to Pansage's.

"Positions please?" Liz called.

We all took our positions.

"All right." Liz said before raising her voice.

"This will be a 1-on-1 contest between The challenger Pansear and Sarah. Both Pokémon will battle with no time limit until one is unable to continue. All instant-defeat moves are hereby declared invalid. Only the trainers may give commands to their respective Pokémon, with any outside command on behalf of either party declaring this match null and void. Are both trainers in agreement with these terms?"

"Instant-defeat moves?" Cassie asked.

"It's just a formality. In most battles, this would mean things like self destruct and memento, but in this case it makes it so Sarah can't finish this battle in one shot." Liz explained.

"Does outside interference also include Prinplup?" Trey asked.

Liz gave a small laugh. "Why, yes it does." she answered.

"Oh, okay. Well, I guess I'm ready." Sarah called.

I'm not sure if anyone else noticed, but I heard Alder come up quietly outside the door. He didn't say anything, so I knew he was just here to watch the Proceedings.

"Cassie, you have the first move." Liz called.

"Hay!" Sarah shot back.

"It's only fair, seeing as this is a rematch, and you didn't give her and Pansear a chance to do anything the last time you went against each other." Liz calmly said.

despite the fact that I really wanted the first move, I had to agree with Liz's reasoning, so I said nothing.

"Battle, Begin!" shouted Liz.

"Pansear, use what we've been practicing, and keep Sarah from hitting you with any of her water moves!" Cassie Yelled.

The monkey immediately went into action, using something that I guessed was Flamethrower to put a shield between himself and Sarah.

Sarah started to counter with Watergun, but I called for her to only use it when she thought she had a clear opening so as not to waste all of her water.

Sarah did as she was asked, but still tried to find an opening for about 30 seconds before saying, "This is hopeless. Michael, I think I can get around his fire shield, but I can't tell you"

"Michael, are you using a time out?" asked Liz.

"What?" I asked; somewhat confused.

"Any talking longer than fifteen seconds between a trainer and Pokémon during a battle doesn't count as a command." Liz answered.

My hesitation must have shown on my face, because Sarah made a frustrated sound before saying; rather quickly, "Just trust me I know what I'm doing." before moving back onto the battlefield.

This from a Piplup who's only been battle-able for a day at most? I thought to myself before nodding to her.

I'm not exactly sure what happened next, but suffice it to say that Sarah and Pansear did a lot of scuffling before she shouted, "I've got him down! Call an attack!"

I drew breath to do so, but as I was doing that, Cassie simply said, "Role over."

To late, I realized what Sarah meant by "down," but Pansear was already following the command givin to him.

Sarah screamed in frustration, but started doing something else almost at the same time she got back up from being thrown to the ground.

It kind of sounded like Bubblebeam, but it also sounded different.

"Water bullets." Sarah said in between rounds of the things.

She kept firing them at Pansear as he kept up his flame shield.

"See little bird? You can't hi"

Pansear was knock to the ground before he could finish.

"Yes!" Sarah and I both shouted.

"get back up! And this time don't taunt her, or you'll geeee" She trailed off before saying, "yeah. Use Taunt!"

I knew what Taunt did, and it wouldn't be pretty if Sarah could no longer use the one attack that gave her the advantage in this fight.

"Stop" I yelled, but Sarah cut me off with, "Already on it!" before, um, taking Pansear's tail in her beak?

This time, I seized the chance.

"full-power Waterguu" The attack was already happening, but instead of speeding Pansear into a wall or just flying to the ground, Pansear's yell of pain traveled, upward?

Sarah began shooting water on the ground while "singing" a little ditty that translated as, "Swim in the pretty water."

I had to really try hard not to laugh at the irony of what Sarah meant, as a rather loud and wet splash was just as quickly followed by an extremely loud scream.

unfortunately, Pansear's pain didn't stop him from realizing that he was in a perfect position to fire off; or rather scream out; his Taunt.

unfortunately; for Pansear, anyway, it didn't seem to do anything.

"I'm sorry sir," Sarah said after about three seconds or so, "But I've put all that behind me."

Pansear said something to sarah, but she didn't take the bate.

"Oh no good sir. You see" A blast of water slammed into Pansear, and as he went airborne; again, Sarah spun into Pansear several times, all the while saying; with each spin, "It, wasn't, her, fault, so, their!"

Pansear screamed as each hit connected, and as he came back down while Sarah was catching her breath, Cassie ordered, "lick." in a calm controlled voice.

"Back Sarah!" I shouted, but to no avail, for the lick connected squarely.

Pansear's tongue drug along Sarah's body as the monkey fell back to earth, and as she moaned from the paralysis taking hold, I realized we might be screwed.

"it hurts it hurts it hurts!" she cried.

"I know, but you can either crawl away crying, or you can try and finish this." I said calmly.

"Finish this." Sarah whispered.

she tried to move, but let out a yell instead.

"Can't, move!"

"You're going to have to take a pot shot then." I said; fighting to keep my voice calm.

"A, what?" Sarah moaned.

"You have to shoot from your current position." I said; feeling a bit calmer knowing that Sarah was still trying to parse information.

Pansear put up his darn flame shield again.

"Good Pansear!" called Cassie.

With a colossal effort, Sarah began firing her water bullets at Pansear.

Most of them either went wild, or hit his shield, but a few of them managed to find their target.

Pansear cried out in pain, but Sarah was losing her strength rapidly.

Her bullets suddenly stopped, with the final shot being a clean hit.

Pansear cried out again, but remained standing.

Sarah slumped to the ground; moaning softly.

"Just keep standing and we've got this!" Cassie called.

Her words were in vain, for the fire monkey fell over in defeat.

"Oh man. No! no! Pansear." Cassie said.

Silence rained for a few seconds before Liz called, "Sarah and Pansear are both unable to battle, so I declare this match a drawl."

Liz walked over to me and put a hand on my arm.

"Good job." she said.

Cassie and I shook vary sweaty hands.

"Good battle." I said.

"Same to you." she said after a second or so.

"You win some, and you lose some." I said.

"We both lost." she said.

"Nah, we both gained knowledge, that's a victory on both sides." I said.

"Well said!" Alder said; clapping as he made his formal entrance.

"You're all going to be fine trainers one day." he finished as he made his way over to us.

"And Liz, not bad for your first time being a judge."

Liz thanked Alder as Cassie recalled Pansear; thanking him for a good job.

I bent down to retrieve Sarah, but Prinplup was their telling me to leave her alone.

I tried to protest, but Hope came over and told me that her and Prinplup would take care of sarah.

Alder told me that the two children and I needed to join him for a little talk, as he was originally coming to get us for that purpose before he noticed the match about to begin.

So I left Sarah with her, um, "Persona" and Hope, and joined Alder along with the rest of my Pokémon back in the living room.

Alder took a moment to collect his thoughts before he began.

"Well you both saw what happened with Sarah, and met Margaret, so my job is a little easier." he said to the two kids before filling them in on the events of last night.

"So, has Elisabeth's presents had any more effects than that?" Robin asked.

"Yes, actually. That's what I was going to tell you all about." Alder said with the tone of a man about to resign himself to a vary long conversation.

"Seymour, you've been following current events lately. Do you recall a proposed change to the gym challenge?" Alder asked.

"Oh yeah I do. But if I recall right, it didn't pass, because, they couldn't find a dark type gym leader." Seymour said as if recalling the event as he was talking about it.

"I think, Liz and I heard rumblings of that in our travels." Chris put in. "As I recall it, trainers were vary concerned that if it passed, all their journeys would be doubled." he finished.

"They had good reason to worry. It passed, and it has." Alder said before waiting for a response.

"Wait. Christina called. "What's going to happen to the trainers that have almost completed their journeys?"

"Well that's also going to effect you all, because the PWT has been moved up drastically." Alder explained.

"PWT?" a lot of us asked.

"Basically, a bunch of gym leaders are gathering for a friendly competition against trainers from around the world." Liz explained before adding, "You hear a lot when visiting multiple Pokémon centers."

"I don't doubt it. It's been vary big in the news lately." Alder said before addressing the children.

"I'm, afraid, that, your paths have been altered as a result of these events, so when you get home, you should use the week ahead to get online, find out the names and regions of the gym leaders who are staying out of the PWT, and plan your paths accordingly."

"Does Mom already know?" asked Cassie.

"She should. All trainers in waiting and their parents have been notified of the changes via e-mail." Alder explained as he lead the children to the door.

He opened the door, then said, "Go home, talk things over with your parents, then decide how you're getting to wherever your going. and please, take your time. The world is a big place, and it isn't going anywhere."

"Thanks for the heads up." Seymour said as he stepped out.

"Yes, thanks for everything, and please take care of" something was handed over.

"I will. And thanks for being good trainers to them." Alder said.

They all exchanged final greetings and well wishes before Alder waved them home and closed the door.

I waited a few seconds to make sure they wouldn't be coming back for anything before I said in Alder's direction, "I take it that little ears don't need to hear whatever you're about to tell us?"

_"It only concerns you and your Pokémon." he responded smoothly._

He took a seat and waited to make sure we were all comfortable before continuing.

I'm sure you are all wondering what's to become of your jym challenges now that the PWT has been announced, yes?"

"The thought was on my mind." I said; nodding at the same time.

"Well, you happen to have lucked out. Cheren is going to participate in the PWT, but he doesn't leave until ten on Sunday, that's tomorrow morning, so he's agreed to battle you for a badge, provided you can make it back to Aspertia. Roxie over in Virbank City has a spot open the vary next day at two in the afternoon, and if you're feeling up to it, Burgh in Castelia can battle you on Tuesday morning."

"That's a lot of gyms, and not enough time to train." Robin observed.

"I know, but events are moving rapidly, and I'm afraid Michael is going to have to move fast or lose these chances." Alder explained.

I ran over all the gym leaders I knew of in my head, then asked, "Is Clay still the only ground gym leader?"

"Yes, but he's already said he isn't taking any formal challengers until after the PWT has ended, and he gets some rest."

"So, how long is this PWT?" asked Liz.

"It lasts six months, but the gym leaders who are participating are all going to take a short brake to rest every two weeks or so."

"So we'll be traveling to another region, or waiting six months huh." Chris thought out loud.

"But can't they take a boat from Castelia?" Hope piped up.

"Hope! I wanted to tell them!" Sarah said.

"Oh, sorry Sarah, it just came out."

"I know." Sarah said; a little calmer.

"so you are leaving us after all?" I asked; not to surprised.

"Well yes. As I already said before, Juniper was going to send me to Castelia so I could work for the medical unit their." Hope explained.

"Before you came, I kind of, um, promised Hope I'd go with her if she decided to do that," Sarah began.

"But now that I have a Prinplup living in my head, well..."

"Ah I get it.". What better way to show her selflessness." I deduced.

"Wow. That was easy." Sarah said before continuing.

"See, Hope and I were thinking we'd train here a little bit more today, then travel with you all until we reach Castelia, and help out with the gym battles along the way. I'd stay with you for the week or so it takes Hope to do that, conference thing, then join her on the ship when it departs. And once Hope's life runs its course, I'll find you all again."

"How long will that take again?" Chris asked.

"optimistically? Oh, about eight months, or so." Hope answered.

"Well, if you're sure that's really what you want to do, then who am I to stop you." I said.

"Oh thank you! Thank you!" Sarah yelled; giving me a huge hug.

"And in the mean time, you can train a blind Azumarill." Christina said. "That is, if you want to." she finished.

"I'd love to." I said with a little laugh.

"Hay Alder, I wonder if I can use your battle room one last time to train Hope and Sarah for a few hours?"

"I figured you might ask that." Alder said; a smile in his voice.

"More than that though, their's something else I want to do before we leave you."

"Oh, And what might that bee?"

Robin shrieked with joy as he flew above Alder's house.

The battle room had been opened to the sky, and all of us enjoyed a pleasant breeze as we listened to; and watched; respectively, robin's joy.

I figured Alder would have such an accommodation for his Volcarona, and I wanted to take advantage of a controlled situation to allow Robin to get a handle on the basics of flight before we went out into the world.

He wasn't flying vary high; most likely due to his wing feathers not being completely grown in yet, but this was probably the highest he'd ever been, so I decided to teach him how to really fly later; if I could.

Liz and the others were helping to train Hope and Sarah, and I asked lots of questions and gave out ideas; some bad, and some good; as it turned out.

We all passed several hours in this way, but eventually, three PM came around.

That's when Alder came in and handed me my Pokédex.

"I put some things in your documents folder. Your beginners guide as well as a list of all the gym leaders who aren't participating in the PWT, among other things."

"I thanked him as Robin came in for a vary rough landing.

"You'll get the hang of it." Alder and I said, then we laughed together before I thanked him for everything he'd done for us.

"I made a three thirty reservation for you at Aspertia's Pokémon center, but Crystal called me up during my research a while ago, and she's coming by within the next few hours." Alder finished.

"Wait mom's coming here?" Christina asked; more than a little surprised.

"She sure is. After you had that speach TM used on you, she got a new assignment that just so happened to bring her to Aspertia City. She's still unloading her things at the moment, but after I filled her in on everything that's gone down regarding you, she said she'd love to check up on you and meet Michael at the same time."

christina was more than taken aback by the news.

After she had time to take everything in, she walked up to me.

"Mom's, unique, but if you give her a little bit of time, I'm sure the two of you will become awsome friends." she finally said.

"I look forward to meeting her." I replied; and I genuinely meant it.

So what do we do in the mean time?" Liz asked.

Robin cleared his throat.

"If I may?"

"Sure Robin, go ahead." Liz prompted.

He paused to gather his thoughts.

"This gym leader match is really going to happen tomorrow morning yes?"

We all nodded; or, at least, I did.

"Well, instead of trying to guess what skills Hope and Sarah will need, why don't we go on-line and look up our opponent and start developing a strategy based on the information we're able to retrieve?"

"Would that not give trainers an unfair advantage?" asked Trey.

Robin went over to what I thought was a wall and began to gently pek at it; or maybe he tapped at it with his wing; I'm not sure whitch..

"No. It's all on-line, if I can just remember how to" Robin said between peks or tapps.

A beep sounded from, somewhere, and Robin let out a "Yes! Here we go!"

"Oh! It's a screen! For a moment, I thought you were just pecking at the wall." I exclaimed.

"No I'm tapping it with my wing, and I should have told you what I was about to do." Robin explained as a second beep sounded.

"Oh kay." he said slowly.

"It looks like we'll be facing off with a man named Cheren." Robin said.

"Sounds about right." I said.

"Let's see. He trains normal type pokémon, the match type is, single battle using two Pokémon, And his choices for our team level are, a level 12 Patrat and Pidove, as well as a level 14 Lillipup."

"Does that also give the moves the Pokémon know?" Trey asked.

Robin sighed as he; most likely; looked the screen over.

"Let's see. It says here that his signature move is something called, Work Up."

"Oh no." Trey said in a vary low and quiet voice.

"Oh no is right. Work Up raises a Pokémon's attack stat to a vary high level." I explained.

"That's bad?" Hope asked.

"For us, yes! Especially at your current level. Sarah's to."

"Um, okay?" Sarah asked.

"Well, if one of those Pokémon gets off a few Work Ups, we can kiss that vadge good by." I explained before thinking of another question to ask.

"Hay Robin, what other moves do his Pokémon know?"

Robin tapped around a little bit.

"huh. It, looks, like, mostly, Tackle, and, Bite for, the two normal types, with a few status moves like Leer. Hmm, and,"

"Here let me." Liz said; going for Robin's position.

"Oh no." I said, rushing to her, and; sort of; hugging her so I could keep her from getting to robin again.

"Robin can do this, just give him a chance okay?" I finished.

Liz; sort of; sighed, then seemed to think for a moment.

"Robin, we need to know what moves each Pokémon knows. we can't plan a sound strategy without that information." she explained.

"I know. I'm just reading what's here." he replied.

"But you're leaving out moves." Liz argued.

"No, I'm not. It's showing five moves for Patrat, but the last one is just a bunch of question marks." Robin explained.

"Odd." Hope added."

"And Pidove is mostly, um, blocked out except for work Up and Leer. Lillipup has two moves that aren't being shown to us, as well."

"O kay." Liz said slowly.

"Well, it's not like the rest of the moves can't be inferred." I challenged.

"How so?" asked Sarah.

"Well, Pidove is your normal basic flying type, so it most likely has Gust and Quick Attack, and maybe Tackle as well.

"Well that makes sence." Trey put in.  
"So, basically, we'd have to base our strategy around a hit and run tactic?" Sarah asked.

"That would be the best way to go, but we don't exactly have a lot of move choices to work with." I pointed out.

"Well," began Trey, "I could try and teach the ladies Work Up, if they would be willing to learn something new in a vary short time."

"How well, do you think that would work out for us?" Hope asked in Trey's direction.

"I do not know. If you and Sarah are willing to try and learn it, our odds of winning in the morning would increase."

"We are!" Sarah exclaimed.

"Trey, how confident are you in your ability to teach Work Up to them?" I asked.

"I will not say for sure, because I do not know how it will go within such a short time limit, but I will also add that I can possibly teach Hope Defense Curl so she can take a few more hits from these most likely powered-up Pokémon."

I was just a little uncirtain about all this, but Trey came over to me and rested his hand on my leg.

"Michael, they have the will to learn, and that is the most inportant thing right now. I will do my best to insure they are ready for tomorrow."

"Then we will to." I said before calling robin and Liz over and facing them as best I could.

"I hate to do this to the both of you, but could you offer support to them? they'll definitely need it."

"Think nothing of it! we're glad to do our part!" Robin answered in an unusually enthusiastic tone.

Liz made a sound of agreement.

"while trey is doing his thing with the girls, we need to perfect the strategy they'll be using." I finished.

"Now that, we can do." Liz responded before making sure Trey was okay training the girls on his own.

"So do you really think we have any kind of chance of winning?" I asked Liz after making sure that Hope and Sarah were fully involved in Trey's training.

Liz seemed to think; but only for a second; before saying, "Hope and Sarah have big hearts, but they also have vary strong wills. While I can''t say we'll win for sure, there is a definite chance we'll succeed."

So we spent some time; I don't really know if it was closer to two or three hours; deciding what Hope and Sarah would do in the coming battle.

I tried to think of every possible situation they could find themselves in and devise some sort of counter plan.

I knew we'd have to come up with a few new tricks, but trey and Liz; after some persuading; convinced me that we'd have to mostly make do with what we had.

after some time, Trey tought Hope work up, Defense Curl and refreshed her memory on a few other basic moves.

I mannaged to convince Sarah to try and learn Work up from Trey, and we were just finishing up that particular lesson when the doorbell rang

I knew that would be Crystal, so I asked Liz if she'd be good enough to watch the Pokémon that were still training while I went to meet crystal by myself.

Liz was okay with the idea, but christina seemed like she wanted to tag along, so I let her.

That ended up being a good thing, because half way to the front of the house, a creature of some kind ran up and took christina into its arms.

"Christina! Please, say something to me?" it almost beged.

"Mom I'm fine okay? But aren't I a little to big for you to be picking up? And how'd you get here so fast?" christina replied.

Crystal reluctatntly put her daughter down before responding.

"I thought I lost you when I got the notification that a speach TM was used on you. Was it rough? And how'd you pull through it?" she asked seemingly in one breath.

"Oh my new friends sarah and Liz worked together to restore all my normal cognitive functions early this morning." christina answered as if she were talking about the weather.

"Please don't make light of this. If you even think their might be any lingering effects, I need to know now so we can resolve them." crystal explained calmly.

"Mom, I'm fine, really! Christina said.

Crystal seem to consider, then; eventualy; relented.

"all right, but remember I'm always only a phone call away if you ever need me." she finally said before turning in my direction.

"So, your Michael, I presume?"

"I am." I said as I offered my hand to her.

She shook it, and I couldn't help noticing that it felt strange; kind of furry, but rough, as if it had been made for being under water or something.

I also noticed that she was tall; vary tall; at least for a Marill.

Suddenly, crystal took my hand in hers and guided it up her arm.

"Well, go ahead and touch me if you wish. You can even feel of my face, I don't mind. Christina does it all the time, so I'm used to it by now." she said.

So I felt her face; for a time, then ran my hands down her sholders; finding that she wore a kind of leather thong of sorts that culminated in a waste belt that held a lot of items.

After I was done looking her over, I asked if she wanted to meat the others.

"That would be wonderful!" she said, and we all walked back to the battle room.

When I arived, Trey was trying to teach Hope some defencive move, and Hope; for her part; wasn't taking it to well.

"Trey!" she finally exploded. "I understand what you're trying to do, but I don't need these skills okay?"

"What if you are in danger?" he asked.

"I'll hide." she responded smugly.

"And if hiding is not an option?"

Silence, broken only by crystal's soft snickering.

"See? You cannot be a healer and help people and Pokémon if you are dead, correct?"

More silence, then, Hope sighed.

"Point taken, I just don't want to become some kind of weird healer slash soldier."

Trey laughed; or made something almost like one.

"And I am not trying to make you one, but I do at least want to make sure that if something bad does happen, you can keep yourself safe."

"Okay, but I cant really understand anything you're telling me."

"Then, please, explain what you do kind of understand, and I shal endeavor to make the rest clearer."

In the meantime, Liz was trying to help sarah with tactics that could help her in the; hopefully; upcoming gym battles.

"sarah, don't just blast randomly, find your target, then attack."

"I can't hit you if you won't stop moving!"

"Moving? Oh no sarah, this is just walking for me. Now this."

Her voice distorted and started moving around the room.

"This is moving."

"Liz, please stop that teleporting stuff!"

"Then. Hit. Me."

Liz started teleporting faster and faster until Sarah had enough and somehow blasted her with a watergun attack that caused Liz to stop moving.

"See? you can do it if you focus on the objective at hand." Crystal said calmly.

Sarah didn't say anything for a little bit, then, "You're right!"

"You see? Once the battle starts, if you only concern yourself with the battle and let everything else go, things will work out for you most of the time." Liz explained.

"I do! I Finally understand! I think." sarah said.

"Let's find out then. This time I'm actually going to attack you, no, it won't hurt if one connects, and I want you to avoid me and strike back at least six times. Understand?"

"Isn't that a bit mutch?" Crystal asked.

"Oh, no, not really." Liz answered coolly as she charged up some kind of attack.

"besides, she'll have to face mutch worse than this!" she threw some kind of projectile at sarah. "Tomorrow." she finished as sarah got hit by the thing.

"Liz!" Sarah wined.

"Oh please, I know for a fact that didn't hurt." Liz admonished.

I pulled out my Pokédex, and; sure enough; Sarah was still at full health.

I pointed this out, and Sarah seem taken aback just before another projectile hit her.

This time; at least; she made some attempt at moving out of the way.

She then began firing seemingly random waterguns at Liz.

"Don't just shoot randomly, watch your opponent for a patern, then make your move." robin suggested.

I was about to say something to, but just then, Sarah tried another attack, and, almost hit Liz.

"Oh, almost!" exclaimed Trey.

"Keep trying!" I encouraged.

"You have no idea how close Sarah came to hitting Liz." Crystal observed.

"Wait for the patern to come back around, then try to hit her just a little bit earlier than what you just tried!" Christina added.

"Good call!" Crystal said in Christina's direction.

Sarah did try, but after several seconds, Crystal called out, "Sarah dear, you missed the patern!"

"Oh sorry, Crystal?"

"Yes, and that's okay. You're still new at this, just try again." Crystal encouraged.

Then we all stood in silence as Liz went through her patern, five more times.

On the sixth run, sarah made a noise low in the back of her throat, and Trey whispered, "She has found the patern and is now making her move!"

And what a move it was!

Sarah inhaled extremely deep, then hit Liz at least eight times in a roe with just one attack!

All of us applauded as Liz reappeared.

"Well done Sarah!" she said as she gave her a hug.

She put sarah down, then asked, "Trey, how many hits was that?"

Trey; for his part; seem just the slightest bit put out.

"Um, nine, I think?" he finally said.

"Robin, what did you see from your angle?" Liz asked.

"It looked like eight hits to me, though I could have missed one." he promptly answered.

"And how many did you hear?" Liz asked in my direction.

"At least eight." I answered without having to even think about it.

"Well, the idea was for Sarah to hit me with six separate attacks, but seeing as that one new attack hit eight times, I guess we're good for now." Liz said.

We all laughed before introductions were made between crystal and everyone else.

Hope seemed to have gotten the hang of whatever Trey was trying to teach her, so I told everyone that we most likely needed to start rapping things up.

"No don't, at least not yet. I kind of want to watch you train a little more, seeing as I do still have some time to kill." Crystal offered.

"Okay fair enough. So, what should we train for now?" I asked the others.

"Sarah and I need to make sure we can defeat that gym tomarro." Hope responded.

"Just make sure you do your best and we'll deal with the result regardless of what it is." I said.

"Okay." she said before calmly walking over to sarah and launching a magical leaf attack.

Sarah; for her part; tried to avoid the attack by batting some of the leaves away with her flippers, then attempting to jump over the rest in order to get to Hope.

Everything went well until her flippers came out on the jump, as the leaves pinned her down by her flippers.

"Okay, bad idea." she said before launching a watergun at Hope.

The attack almost hit, but Hope jumped out of the way just in time.

she changed direction during the jump and; well at least it sounded like she tried to kick sarah.

sarah charged up her beak and stuck it directly into Hope's foot.

Hope cried out and fell to the ground on her back, but she quickly roled onto her side screaming, "ow ow my tail!"

"Go for the finish sarah!" I yelled.

Sarah didn't waste any time in delivering a full-power watergun directly at Hope.

Hope got back up quickly and shot a magical leaf at sarah before going directly into a tackle before the leaves had even found there target.

sad to say, sarah had no defence against the combined attack, because both moves hit right on schedule and brought her down with a despairing cry of defeat.

She tried to get to her feet, but fell again and didn't get up.

A high-pitched wistle sounded just then, and Alder called, "sparring match over!"

"Hay." he began in a more normal tone as he approached me, "I know you're stil new at all this, but if you continue, the normal healing procedures won't work on sarah so you need to stop now and let me heal her."

"No let me." Crystal said, taking a smallish-sounding bottle out of; somewhere.

I did as instructed and let crystal work on Sarah.

"Remember, for feuture reference, always moniter your Pokémon's health during sparring matches and don't let it fall below 40 percent okay?" Alder said as crystal worked.

"Thanks for the tip. I'll keep it in mind!" I said.

Crystal was checking something on sarahs body, then she opened up another bottle and asked Sarah to drink it.

sarah did so, then exclaimed, "Wow this tastes really good!"

"I'm sure bethany will be glad to hear that."Crystal said as she released sarah from her grip.

"Sarah's all good." Crystal told us.

"What about me huh?" Hope asked.

"Oh you're no problem. It just so happens their's enough left in this first bottle to put on your foot and tail." Crystal replied with the sort of tone that also said, "and I planned this all along."

"Crystal applied the treatment to Hope, then turned back to us again.

"I was already thinking about asking all of you over to my place for the night, but after seeing how you all work together, i'm really hoping, no pun intended, that you'll take me up on my offer, especially seeing as I also need to upgrade Michael's Pokédex as well."

"I'd love to come along, provided we have enough time to walk to your house before dark, and we aren't imposing on you in any way." I answered.

"Um, Michael? Crystal came here in a car." Alder said with a strange tone in his voice that I couldn't quite read.

"A, car?" I echoed.

In response, Crystal jingled a set of keys.

"That's correct, and I'm fully certified with all the proper test completion records, an official license, as well as six years of driving experience to boot." Crystal added.

"Well if that's the case, and seeing as Liz here hasn't warned me of any possible bad outcomes, I guess I'm okay with you driving a car, provided it has enough room for all of us." I said after some thought.

"If we're a bit creative we can make the available space work in our favor. And, no you aren't imposing on me and mine at all. In fact, we'd love the company." Crystal happily said.

So I once again thanked alder for his hospitality, and he wished all of us luck as he showed us out of his house.

Before he left us, he bent down in front of Trey and said in a heavy voice,

"I tried to do some research on that video with Ruby, but I came up empty. Perhaps crystal would be willing to help, if you ask her nicely."

"I will do that, and thanks for trying alder sir." Trey answered before we all shook hands and Alder went back into his house, leaving us in Crystal's care.


	5. Chapter 5

Attached

A Pokémon Persona Crossover Fanfiction

by Three Black Noises

Chapter 5

Even before crystal opened the doors, I could tell that the car was... really nice; provided it was being driven by a giant Marill.

as she unlocked the doors, I reached for my Poké balls, just in case I needed to put some Pokémon away during the trip.

"How many Pokémon do you have? Just six?" Crystal asked me.

"Just what you se around me." I replied; knowing that all my Pokémon were gathered vary close to me.

"If that's the case, we can make this work." Crystal said as she helped me find the front passenger side.

As I climbed into the car, I noticed that even the front seat was one of those long bench seats.

Crystal opened the driver's door; or at least I thought it was Crystal, until liz slid over near me.

Crystal did climb in directly after, and proceeded to put her keys into the ignition.

as christina opened the back driver's side door, crystal turned the key, and I heard the car make several strange noises; almost like vary quiet steam-driven machinery, but no anoying alarms went off.

It seemed like Christina knew what she was doing, because she and the others were talking about how everybody was going to fit comfortably in the back seat as I put on my seatbelt.

Robin also seemed to know his way around a car, because it was him who finally decided that he'd hold Trey, chris would hold Hope, and christina would hold Sarah.

after everybody got situated, some quiet moments passed before crystal asked, "Robin?"

"Just give us a second. Trey, just push" Robin began before their was a click.

"Well we're green across the board." Crystal said after she buckled herself in.

"So, Crystal," I began, how old are you anyway?"

"I hope for your sake that this is the first time you've asked a girl that question." Crystal warned while typing on some kind of keyboard.

"It's not. he asked me that same question this morning, but for a vary constructive reason." liz supplied.

"Oh really. and would their be a constructive reason here to?" crystal asked; putting a bit of laughter into her voice.

"Yes. I want to get an idea of how long Marill live for." I replied smoothly.

Crystal considered my words for several seconds, then said, "Seeing as it's for informative purposes, I'm eleven years old, closer toward the front end of that year, not the latter."

"And how old do Marill usually get?" Liz askde.

"Mid twenties to somewhere around thirty, health permitting of course." crystal answered promptly.

"I see. and, one last thing?" I asked.

"Yes?" Crystal offered as the car beeped.

"If you were a human, how old would you say you were now?"

"If I were a normal Marill, I'd say closer to my actual age than not. However, I believe even you can tell that's not the case. with my enhanced intelligence factor, I'd have to put myself, somewhere in my mid twenties, maybe even thirty."

crystal paused for a time, then finally said, "That's the best answer I can give." before turning the; extremely quiet; engine over.

I took that as my cue and changed the subject as we pulled onto the road.

"So does making computers give you enough money to afford things like this nice car?

"Not exactly. I'm actually debugging the computer in this thing, and once the changes are finished, provided I give accurate and timely reports, the car's mine free and clear."

I didn't quite know how to react to that statement beyond being amazed, so nothing was said for a little bit, until Sarah made to speak.

"Hay Crystal?"

"Yeah what's up."

"Well, I was just wondering how long it took you to learn your different water moves."

"About a year." Crystal said easily."

"But you'll have one of us with you at all times so it might not take that long for you." I said quickly before Sarah could start feeling bad.

"I know. I just wondered." she answered.

"That doesn't mean you have to rush things. It might take longer for you, perhaps not, but if you take the time you need to learn the techniques the propper way the first time, it'll save you a hole lot of trouble later on." Crystal added.

sarah didn't say anything in reply, and I didn't see a need to add anything, as Crystal had just given Sarah a lot of food for thought; as it were.

So it was that we were silent for a time as Crystal navigated trafic.

Finally, Robin spoke up.

"So, I don't know if you'd even remember me, but we've interacted before."

He paused to let Crystal respond.

"Oh I do remember you all right. after all, how could I forget a Pidgeot with such good manners and diction?" she asked.

"Good what?" Sarah asked.

"Diction. It's the way a person chooses what words to use." I answered.

"Just so." crystal complimented.

"I wanted to ask you a question, but time and circumstance forbade me from doing it before, so, what made a water creature like yourself start thinking about numbers and code and stuff instead of simple things like..." robin began.

"Like playing in the water and enjoying nature? Things like that?" Crystal interjected with a laugh.

"Yeah, but how did you know that's what I was going to ask?" Robin asked; amazed.

"Easy. everyone askes that question at some point, but they usually get stuck at the part where they try to supply things I'd think about." Crystal replied.

"And your usual answer is?" Liz prompted.

"It changes depending on who's asking, but generally I tell them something along the lines of,

I'm a green tailess giant Marill who's no longer excepted by her people because of her unusual size and high intelligence.

that, and no humans would want to train me so I had to find a way to rise above my status.

I love interacting with others, and I found my existing talent with numbers along with my increased brain power made me able to understand computers and such, and people need their PCs fixed now and again"

"So what comes after that?" asked Hope.

"Well, not much really. I guess the simplest things would be that, I got, vary, vary good at fixing PCs and tablets, and people put up with me for a time, and eventualy I found I could make a small bit of money for every job I did, and before I knew it I'd tought myself programming, and things just went from there. Believe me you can learn something really fast when you're bord out of your mind."

"That's kind of strange, picking programming of all things." I said.

Crystal sighed long and low before continuing. "well, I wanted to help people in some way, and programming wasn't really my first choice. It was remote enough that I could help out from a distance, or so I thought at the start."

She paused as we stopped at a sign or a light.

"The first thing I tried was life garding." she said during the interval.

"I'm surprised that didn't work out with you being almost perfect for that sort of thing." Chris supplied.

"As far as the skill set, I was great. They do actually train azumarill for that sort of thing you know."

"Hence his point. So what happened?" Trey asked.

"Oh, just a little thing called prejudice." Crystal answered evenly.

"she saved someone, and things went down hill." Christina said.

"Why?" Sarah asked.

"The parents of the little boy I'd saved, well, let's just say, they wern't to happy that a giant shiny Marill did the saving. One complaint lead to another, and eventually I decided I needed to find something else to do; despite first trying to move to other locations where I could still do life garding." Crystal explained.

"So, what really lead to programming?" I asked as I filed the knowledge that shiny Pokémon did exist in this version of the Pokémon world away for later.

"Well" Crystal started before pressing her horn.

"Right turn on read!" she said to some driver in her path.

"What?" Liz asked.

"It's okay to turn right during a red light so long as you're in the turning lane." Crystal explained as we got moving again.

"So anyway, you know how everyone's always talking to someone in cyberspace on those tablits and phones?"

"Tell me about it." I muttered.

"Well, you see lots of people doing that sort of thing at pools and such when they aren't swimming.

And, one day, I started wondering what most of the younger people would do if those devices or the networks that were used to run them ever stopped working. And that lead me to wonder how said devices worked in the first place."

"And then every thing went from there." Trey finished.

"more or less." Crystal answered.

"Because you were already good with numbers right?" I asked.

"Yes, but we Marill aren't what you'd call, technologically minded. I was way better at counting and measuring and dividing shairs of food and such than my siblings or even my parents, but I wasn't anything close to genius material until the transformation."

"Did you ever think about doing translation related stuff?" Chris asked after it was clear that Crystal was done with her answer, and wasn't going to elaborate on the 'transformation' portion.

"Oh goodness no!" Crystal exclaimed before continuing normally.

"See, that's kind of a public servent thing, and besides whitch, once people have a translater," she blew out a vary heavy sigh, "They never, and I mean Never, attempt to learn how to communicate with their Pokémon partners in a traditional way. Kind of sad, really." she finished.

"Pokémon don't all communicate with a trainer in the same way either, even among the same species right?" Chris reasoned.

"Not only that, but Pokémon languages are incrediblely diverse as well." Crystal explained.

"How do you mean?" I asked.

Crystal paused for a time then.

"Okay, take this example." she said before speaking in her own language.

"anyone know what that means?"

"Yeah, 'please let me play outside.'" chris answered.

"Good. Now how about this." she spoke in her native tung again, paused again then, "anyone know what That means?

I noticed sirtain sounds were pitched differently, and some had an almost imperceptible rise and fall to them.

Their were also slight volume and rhythm changes, and different syllables were stressed differently as well.

"Please tell me a story." chris said in amazement.

"I guess that leaves out writing a book on translation. It would drive people nuts, trying to figure out what a Pokémon wanted." I deduced.

"Correct." Crystal responded as we made another turn.

"So why do you need to give me a new Pokédex?" I asked after a moment.

"Two reasons. First, what you've got is an out-dated prototype I put together for a blind kid about 5 years back, but his parents pulled him just two days before he was to choose his first Pokémon and get his dex. So it just kind of sat there until you came along.

Second, the new dex I'm making should work for both sighted and blind people, and I'd like you to field test it for me." crystal explained.

"As long as it doesn't, crash during battle, or something, I will." I answered after a few seconds.

"It shouldn't. I've spent 3 months debugging it. That, and, I have to instal some, programming into it I'm not quite done with yet."

She paused, then; almost as an afterthought; she asked, "Do you have JAWS where you come from?"

"Jaws?" Robin asked.

"Job access with Speach. It makes a computer speak so a blind person can use it." I answered out of habit.

"I take it that's a yes then?" crystal laughed.

"Yes it is. I know it's in my old Pokédex to, but I guess I'll need to find some way to set up a kind of quick instaler so I can access the PCs in the Pokémon centers." I said; already dreading how that process was going to go.

"Nope. My version of JAWS I worked on with freedom scientific is already built in to all those PCs." Crystal answered.

"Oh." That's all I could say.

Another question popped into my head, and I decided to ask it before nurves got the better of me.

"So, um, you've got a last name, are you married?"

Crystal didn't miss a beat.

"My last name is just their because it's nicer to say 'I'm crystal Brightstar' than 'I'm crystal the computer Marill'."

She paused for ten seconds or so before taking a deep breath.

"As for marage, we Marill don't marry in the same way as humans do, but, no I don't have a mate. That doesn't mean, however, that I live alone either." She finished rather vaguely as we pulled into a drive, and the engine died.

"Really?" Crystal said; embarrassed.

"What?" sarah asked.

"I killed it not five feet from parking." crystal said before grabbing the keys with an embarrassed sound.

She finished parking the car, then disembarked.

Taking that as our cue, Liz and I got out of the car.

"You were pretty quiet on the way over here." I observed as the others finished getting out as well.

"Oh... just thinking about stuff..." liz replied in a distracted way as we began walking toward Crystal's house.

we didn't even make it to the front door before someone came out of it.

"Crystal I just finished un" the person said before braking off abruptly.

"Packing." she finished slowly after a second or so.

"Ah Bella, this is Michael and his friends." Crystal said; not seming to notice the awkwardness with wich bella had stopped talking.

I noticed that Liz was shaking slightly.

"You!" Liz and Bella said at the same time.

I knew I'd find you eventually. You're the creature that killed those Espeon in cold blood, and this is all that's left of them." Liz said; indecating her dress by rubbing it with one of her hands.

Bella walked right up to Liz and got in her face.

"I was only twenty minutes old when I did that, and only because I was told to by a person who only wanted to take advantage of my ignorance." Bella said; low and dangerous.

Liz; to her credit; wasn't the least bit entemidated by Bella's display as she said, "That's not going to get you out of paying for your crime against the innocent creatures I had to promiss to avenge if I ever found their killer!"

"Please don't try it. Nothing can kill me, and we have the legal documents to prove it." Bella said; almost begged; quietly.

Liz thought for a few seconds before saying, "It's, kind of, programmed in." and unleashing a vary powerfull attack on Bella anyway.

as bella had just told us, the attack did absolutely nothing, though to her credit, she didn't laugh in Liz's face or do anything to show off how right she was.

Liz composed herself before saying, "At least I delivered a ceremonial strike of revenge in their stead."

"They already found ways of herting me more than that, but you've kept your promis to them as well, so are things squared away now?" bella asked.

Liz blew out a vary long; slow; breath before saying, "Not really, but I guess they'll have to be."

Bella took the time to choose her next words vary carefully.

"Liz, I knew I had that coming from you, but at least I was able to grow a conscience, unlike my successor Mewtwo, whom I have killed, and put his master Giovanni behind bars and the name of Team Rocket in the past where it belongs. Will that suffice?"

"Why didn't you kill him?" I asked.

"Because humans told me not to so their justice could be served.

"And if he escapes?" Liz asked.  
"Oh, he won't, but if he does, those same humans have said I get to kill him before he can start up something like Team Rocket again." Bella replied.

Liz thought on this, then said, "That will suffice, so long as you don't even think of harming my friends."

"I have no reason to, now that I've reformed." Bella said; backing off slightly.

"You won't be offended if I keep an eye on you until I get to know you better?" Liz asked; backing up a little herself.

"I'd be surprised if you didn't, given what you've witnessed." bella said; now backing fully into the house.

I knew I was supposed to follow her in, but I held back for a moment and turned Liz to face me.

As I did, I asked, "Liz? You were pretty quick to start flinging accusations in bella's face. How'd you know that she was the creature you'd been sirching for anyway?"

"Several factors." liz said, but stopped as I noticed that her dress was tingling ever so slightly.

"Her appearance matches exactly with what the espeon showed me. About my hight, rocky skin, pink as all getout."

She paused for a few beats, then asked, "Notice anything different about my dress?"

"Yeah it's tingling or something." I replied; not knowing why a dress would do such a thing, but having a good hunch anyway.

Liz knew I had a hunch to, because she asked me what it was.

I told her that my best guess was that the dress had some kind of special power or something in it that would only go off in Bella's presence, and only once at that.

"You're correct! So it's just a regular dress again." Liz explained.

"Well that's a relief." Chris said as he entered the house.

We all took his lead and followed him in with the rest of the group not far behind.

While Liz gave me a quick rundown of the house's interior, the others all made themselves at home.

Most of the chatter during this time was trivial except for trey who seemed to be asking Crystal some questions regarding the strange video file from earlier.

"Liz, did you see where Bella went? I'd like to meet her if that's okay with you." I asked eventually.

"I have no problem at all with that." Liz replied in a good-natured way before giving me directions to Bella's room.

As I arived, I noticed that the others had decided to join me.

Preparing to enter the room, I made a fist to knock on the door, just as crystal tapped me on the shoulder.

"Hay can I borrow Trey for a moment?" she asked.

I turned my head in her direction and said, "I'm not exactly his keeper. If he wants to go with you it's fine by me."

Trey seemed just a little surprised, but was glad all the same.

After they left, I turned back twward the door, knocked, and when Bella answered, I entered her room, then waited just inside the door which I'd closed.

"well?" Bella asked as she got to her feet with a loud thunking sound.

"If it's all right with you, I'd like to get to know you a bit." I offered.

"That's fine whith me, though you'll probably think me just as ugly as everyone else once you get a good feel of me." she said as she made her way over to where I was standing.

She paused in front of me, waited some time, then said, "Come on, let's get this over with. If it ends badly I don't want to have time to get my hopes up."

So I reached out and felt...

Well..

Um...

I don't really know how I'd describe how she felt.

Kind of, rockish, and like the surface of teath, I guess, but, with some kind of, other feeling, to her as well.

She stood just slightly shorter than me, was a biped, and seemed to have four limbs; two for standing on and two for 'hands,' but the human similarities ended there.

Her hands were more like claws, but you could call the ends of them fingers if you were willing to brake out the air quotes.

Her, 'face'; if you could call it that, was more like a sort of ball that stood on a skinny stock that came up from the center of her body like a neck, but I couldn't see how it would be able to turn at all.

Her face was also strange, as she had no hair or ears; at least that I could feel or define as such, and she had no upper lip or noze.

She appeared to breathe simply by directly drawing air into, then blowing it out of; her mouth.

If she had fangs in place of teath, her breath didn't wistle through them as I would have expected it to do.

Her bottom lip was more like a beak, who's shape kind of reminded me of a spork.

When she inhaled, her body sort of rumbled, and her exhales were vary deep, long and sort of loud.

Though her voice could be deep, it also had a strange range; not small enough to be considered sing-song, but not large enough to qualify for one that could be considered gracefully flowing either.

"uh, nnot to be rood but, how were you ever a killing weapon if you're so, loud?" I asked.

In reply, something dull suddenly pricked my sholder, then Bella said "Prick."

"So, I take it that I'd be dead if you'd really ment to kill me?" I asked.

"Yeah that's only one of many ways I could do it, but I'm done doing that kind of stuff now." Bella answered.

"Yeah and she'll never even entertain the thought of killing again or I'm gone!" a small voice answered from the place where Bella's left shoulder should have been.

I let out an involuntary "Huh?" then recovered from my surprise and asked, "And who are you?"

"Bethany Porter." the voice answered without offering anything else.

After a short time, Bella added, "Bethany's my partner, or rather I'm hers. I'm just glad she introduced herself before you felt her and asked something like 'what's this strange groath on your shoulder.'"

"Um, I'm a, Bellossom who's, vary small." bethany explained shyly.

"Well nice to meet you to." I said.

"I'd shake your hand, but"

Bethany cut me off. "Oh how sweet. It's a vary small leaf hand, so shaking it would most likely be impossible, but it's the fact that you even want to shake it that really coundts. Thank you!" she said.

I started feeling my way around with my cane for a seat.

"So, I'm guessing from Liz's discription and what I just felt that you were a Corsola at one point?" I asked bella as I found the couch where she'd been sitting.

"Think you've got me figured out huh?" Bella asked.

"At least if Corsola here look anything like they do back home."

"And?" Bella asked.

"Well, kind of like a round ball with a face, legs, horns, and, groaths on their back." I said; trying to remember as much of a Corsola's description as I could.

"That seems to match how they look here, but my groaths are my fingers." she answered.

I could now see how she could be a Corsola if her head represented her Corsola roots.

She sighed. "Though I have no memories of those times, I have no choice for the time being but to accept what everyone else in the know says."

She made her way over to the couch, then paused.

"You do realise that if I sit with you, you're my first friend outside of Crystal, right?" she asked.

"Well, I don't really se anything ugly about you, so far, so until I do, yeah we're friends, both you and Bethany."

Bella unceremoniously thunked herself down beside me, then Bethany said, "Wow, our first human friend who's not studying us or something."

"Yeah, surprises me to." Bella said, as I began feeling her face again.

"Um, my face hasn't changed in the last minute you know."

"I know, I'm just trying to figure out how you look around if your head is stuck in one position all the time.

"It's not." Bella said; turning her head, but keeping it far enough away so as not to breathe in my face as she answered my question.

After I got done feeling her face, I reached for her hand.

"Nice to"

"No!" Bella interupted sharply.

She took a few breaths, then started again.

"My hands have these little spikes coming out of them that could really hurt you so..."

She trailed off as if not knowing how to finish her sentence.

"Not anymore, remember we finally got them to pop out yesterday?" bethany added.

"Oh yeah. I seem to have developed a rather bad habit of purposely losing parts of myself lately." Bella explained nonchalantly as she offered her hand to me.

I shook it; noticing how strange it felt; before getting to my feet, then moving in close to Bella.

"Um, what are you doing?" bella asked vary slowly.

"I'm not going to hurt you." I asured her.

"Oh, I'm not worried about that. I'll just have bethany put you to sleep if you try anything funny." Bella answered; awkwardly getting to her feet.

"If I don't end up cycling first." Bethany responded as I went to hug Bella.

"Okay?" Bella asked.

"It's a hug. A way of showing you want to get to know someone." I explained.  
I held the hug for some time so that Bella could get used to the fact that I wasn't going to harm her.

Her body felt hard against mine, but I didn't care. even if she was hard on the outside, that didn't necessarily reflect her inner person.

I rapped my arms around her and gently squeezed; feeling her rough back in the process.

As we held the hug for some time, she took several rumbling breaths in and out, and as I listened and felt her body cycle air through its systems, I suddently realized that; as far as I could tell; she didn't appear to have any kind of body temperature.

I thought I'd ask about that, but just then, I felt bella take in a somewhat more rumbling breath that I associated with her getting ready to say or ask something.

"Um," she began hesitantly.

I decided to give her time to form her thoughts instead of trying to rush her into saying whatever was on her mind.

At the same time, I noticed that she seemed to be able to store air inside of her kind of like humans did when they were holding they're breath, and wondered if this was how she snuck up on her victims.

Finally, she began vary slowly.

"No matter what other people say about you or the friends you choose to have, don't let anything they say change your goals or plans you make.

"I wasn't planning on letting others have that kind of power over me in the first place." I responded; wondering where this line of conversation was going.

"So, if, for some reason, you choose to have me, on your team, at some point, just call Crystal, okay?"

I started to respond, but then the implications of what Bella was saying hit home.

"Well this is kind of sudden. Are you," I began, but Bella made as if to say something, so I stopped talking to let her speak.

I realised; after a few seconds; that Bella was just blowing out breath like she was incredibly nervous, so I continued.

"Officially offering me your friendship?" I finally finished; not missing the ironic run of good luck I was having with the acquisition of new friends.

"Just putting the card on the table. Gotta' do that at some point you know." she answered as softly as she was able; as if she expected me to bock at the notion.

"Well, sure. Everyone needs a first friend, and I'd love to be that friend, but only if that includes Bethany as well.

"Of course. I'd be glad to have another friend besides Bella, but she and I can't battle for you." Bethany answered.

"Well that's no problem. We'll just be regular friends." I told her.

bella and I broke apart then, but I still had questions I thought one of them could answer.

"Look, if this is an embarrassing subject you can stop me, but Bethany said something about cycling?"

"All Bellossom do it, as well as most other grass types, but Bethany is a little bit obsessive about it." Bella started.

"It's her size right? I asked.

"Has to be. No way it could be anything else, really." Bethany answered.

"So; basically; what is it?" I asked.

"Well," Bella sighed as if in thought.

"Every month, or so," she began slowly, "Most grass types have to change out the kind of spores and or powder they release, weather it be stun spore or sleep powder or the like. During this time, they can release what the Pokémon leagues have officially termed spore attack."

"Oh, so that's how that works." I said; recalling said attack from the games in my world.

"Bethany is a little embarrassed by how frequently she has to do it, releasing the excess elements, but"

Bella stopped suddenly.

"Well, it's bloody inconvenient, when it happens, and, it's not, vary fun either, but it has to be done." Bethany said quietly.

"I get it. You don't have to talk about it any more if you don't want to." I said.

"Thanks." Bethany almost gushed.

"Never had to explain that concept to anyone before huh?" I asked.

"No, but I'm glad I got it out." bethany said softly.

a sudden knock at the door caused all of us to react in different ways.

I turned toward the door, Bella got extremely protective of Bethany, and Bethany; for her part; just got vary nervous.

"Hay, Michael?" Trey's small voice asked.

"Yes?"

"Are you okay in there?"

"I sure am." I replied back.

"who's that?" Bella asked.

"Just a humble Wigglytuff, worried about his friend." Trey answered.

"Well, if you're like Michael, then, I guess, you can come in." Bella invited.

Trey tried the door knob without success.

"Okay, this is different." he said before trying again and succeeding.

He entered the room, then stopped dead in his tracks.

"Well." he said after several seconds.

"You two are not what I was expecting, but you are not bad to look at either." he finished carefully.

"Well you're not bad to look at yourself, and thanks for being careful with your words. Bella replied.

"I think he's kind of cute." Bethany added.

trey only made a disgusted sound, and I decided to ask a question before some kind of fight broke out.

"So, what made you want to come in here anyway?"

"I was concerned for you, and also, crystal wants you whenever you are done here." Trey responded.

"Well I can come whenever." I replied heading for the door.

"unless," I prompted turning back tward Bella and Bethany..

"Well, their is one last thing, now that I've seen your current team." Bella offered.

"Are they all still outside the door?" I asked.

"We are." Hope answered.

"Okay. forgive me for coming off as blunt, but, Clefairy, when was the last time you gathered moon light?" Bella asked.

What do you mean?" I asked; not really understanding why Hope could; or would; need to do such a thing.

Bella was unfazed by my question.

"Well, your Clefairy can use the stored moon energy in her wings to fly, and tonight is a perfect night to gather some if she's low on it."

"And, how would she get said energy? I find it kind of hard to believe she can just stand on the side walk and get it."

"She could, But this house has a tall roufe, as it used to be some kind of observatory or something, so she'd be able to gather her energy without having to expend any in the process."

"And you think Liz will just be okay with teleporting Hope up there? If she is, I'm betting sarah won't like the idea." Robin added.

"I can stay with her, unless she starts trusting Bella." Liz responded.

"I might need that moon light advantage in tomorrow's gym challenge, but anyone could stay with me." Hope offered.

"Gym challenge?" Bethany asked.

"Wow you sure don't waste any time getting into the thick of things do you?" Bella laughed in my direction.

"Not like we have much of a choice, what with the PWT and all." I responded.

"Then gathering moon light is a vary good idea for Hope." Bella agreed.

"Can you really do that?" Christina asked Hope.

"I sure can." Hope answered enthusiastically.

"Then can I take you up their later and stay with you until you're done?" robin asked.

"I don't see why not." Hope agreed.

They all began to leave, and I followed after them.

"We'll still be here if you want to talk some more." Bethany called after me.

"Thanks. It's a deal later." I called back, then I took my leave to see what crystal wanted.

Crystal lived in a room that would have fit right in if it were included in a maximum security prison.

It had one of those thick mettalic doors that kept out sound, and the walls were padded as well.

"So, why are you living in a place like this?" I asked once the door was closed.

"The room blocks enough sound so I can cfocus on my work." she replied easily.

"Oh that's it? I guess it makes sence. So what'd you want?"

Crystal sighed theatrically.

"It's kind of stupid, but legally, I have to ask for your okay before I can do something for any of your pokémon."

"Why. You're a grown woman."

Crystal laughed at that.

"Some would disagree with the woman part, though I'm glad you're not one of them."

"Well I'm glad to be a posative influence in someone's life. So did trey ask for your help?" I asked: already knowing the answer.

"I did indeed. I would vary much like Crystal to help me find Ruby if she can." Trey responded.

"I thought so. I have no problem so long as it doesn't get in the way of your work." I said in crystal's direction.

I thought for a moment before asking, "Trey, how much have you told her?"

"Just about the video, and the fact that Alder tried to help track it down." Trey answered.

"Yeah that went nowhere." I said glumly.

"For most end-users it would, but you're talking to a pro here." Crystal said with a flurrish.

"She continued. "All I had to do was go into the video's source history and track it down."

"And what did you find?" I asked.

"Well, Ruby. Trey's already varified that it's her." Crystal explained as she keppt typing away.

She then pulled up a recording on her PC.

"This was released on a benefit CD published just yesterday by a charity that I support." Crystal explained.

A sweeping symphonic peace of music filled the room.

After a twenty second intro, an extremely high-piched voice joined the music.

It wasn't to the point of grating, but was still unemaginablly high-pitched for a wigglytuff.

The lyrics were in a language I'd never heard before, but; even without a translation; were still vary beautiful to listen to.

We listened in silence until the bridge of the song came up.

Instead of pure music, the singer gave a little speach that had an odd pattern to it.

Crystal paused the recording at this point.

"That speach you've just heard is an extremely dead language. According to Trey, it's the ancient language Pokémon used to communicate with before the big wars and such."

"So what does it mean?" I asked.

"That's the problem. You see, the language is so dead that I can't find anything on it anywhere online, not even in old FTP archives." crystal explained.

"Can't you translate it Trey?" I asked, even though I had a vary bad feeling he couldn't.

"No, I cannot." he answered in a low voice.

I thought for a moment before asking, "Can anyone at home translate it?"

"Tina can, but I am not supposed to contact home unless it is an emergency."

We were quiet for some time, until trey said, "'Well whatever,' as Daniel would say. Crystal, do you have a reflective surface I can borrow?"

"Yeah several, but why?" Crystal replied; somewhat taken aback.

"I have these coins that can allow me to contact home, but I need an extremely reflective surface to generate the image." Trey explained.

"I see. and are you needing to play this recording to your fokes?" crystal asked.

"Yes." Trey answered shortly.

Crystal messed around with the mouse, then called Trey over.

He climed into her lap, then said, "This will do nicely."

Trey then made a small surprised sound before the music started up again.

It stopped, then restarted, then jumped ahead, and I realised that Crystal was showing Trey how to work the media buttons on the keyboard.

"This will work out fine." trey said before leaving the room.

"What did you do?" I asked Crystal in the silence that followed.

"I blacked out the screen so Trey can use it as a mearer." she explained.

Trey flew into the room shortly after.

He climbed into Crystal's lap, then proceeded to fiddle with something in his left hand.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Contacting home." he responded as he slapped something on the screen.

"How does a coin" Crystal started.

Trey politely shushed her, and we waited in silence.

"Your progress Trey?" Daniel's voice asked.

I couldn't help gasping, as his voice had come from Crystal's mouth, or at least where her mouth was.

"Please listen to this." Trey said in a rush as he activated the recording.

The song played for a while before Daniel spoke up.

"That is progress all right. It sounds just like Ruby, and it is a song she sang for us quite frequently!"

"I am very glad you agree." Tray said with relief as he skipped to another part of the song.

"What do you make of this then?" Trey asked just before the speach started.

After the speach was done, Trey paused the recording to wait for a response.

"I think," Daniel started in a very low voice, "Tina is the only one of us who can decode this."

Daniel then said something to someone else, then, to us, "I am sending for her now."

It didn't take very long for tina to appear.

Speaking from the same place as Daniel, she made Trey replay the recording several times while she wrote it all down.

Daniel then returned.

"How is" his voice began to fade out, then, after a few seconds, it returned.

"Your time on this coin is almost up. Where aare you now?"

"In the same city in which I first arived in this part of the world." Trey answered.

"Then we will send a package containing tina's translation to the same place we sent you."

Daniel's voice was fading as he was talking, so the last few words were bearly audible.

The coin dropped from the screen, and Trey caut it with a sigh.

"Trey, not to be rood, but what was that all about with Tina?" crystal asked.

"As I already said, Tina can understand the ancient language, and the message in Ruby's song was ment for her. And no, you are not being rood, just curious, and given the nature of what you witnessed, your curiosity is more than warranted."

"No I mean how does that communication work?" Crystal clarified.

"I have no idea." Trey answered honestly.

"I see. So where did you appear when you first arived here?" Crystal asked.

"It was a high place, why?" Trey replied.

"Oh that must be the look-out." Crystal replied before seeming to look at something.

"It's almost time for my nightly soaking, so I'll have Bella take Trey out their if that's all right with you." she added in my direction.

"Bella can drive?" I asked.

"Yes she can, but she can ALSO RUN LONGER at a steady pace THAN ANY CREATURE ALIVE. As a matter-of-fact; now that I think about it, Trey would be much safer at this late hour with her rather than me."

"You trust bella that much?" Trey asked.

"With my life! Nobody in their right mind would attempt to harm you while bella's with you. And those that aren't, would still not mess with you." Crystal said confidently.  
"Well I'm going with you to." I said.

"No, You're not." Crystal said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because, you need to train Hope for tomorrow." Crystal answered.

She then went to the door and called for Bella.

Training Hope wasn't to difficult. The hardest thing was getting her to attack her opponent, rather than run away from them.

As sarah was an extremely familiar opponent, Christina took her place.

Hope kept feeling bad for Christina because she couldn't see. A few of Christina's well-placed attacks later, Hope began to battle in earnest.

"But! You can't! Even! See me!" Hope said after an extremely intense series of attacks.

"Doesn't matter." Christina calmly said as she delivered yet more attacks.

Hope tried to keep up, but Christina overwhelmed her easily.

Bethany came running out at that point.

"Hay you need to heal Hope now!" she said; out of breath.

I started to get a potion from my bag, but Bethany told me she had something better in mind.

I followed her back to the room where I first met her and Bella, and Bethany lead me to a shelf with lots of bottles on it.

"Bella and I make natural medicine for people and Pokémon." she explained, then asked me to get a small bottle and take it back to Hope.

As we were about to heal Hope, Robin offered to take her up on the rouf to gather moon light, explaining that the process would heal her as well as prepare her for the gym match in the morning.

I didn't see a problem with that, and nither did Crystal.

after they left, Bethany told me I could keep the potion for use in tomorrows match.

I thanked her hole-hartedly, and told her I knew it would be a big help, and it'd be like she was their with us even though she wasn't.

Sarah's POV

Robin couldn't fly very well yet, but he was just trying to help, so I kept quiet.

He did manage to get me up to the rouf without trouble, and I was more than greatful for that.

The rouf wasn't much to write home about, but it did have some kind of big dish thing on it that looked very complicated.

After we settled, Robin left me alone.

"Sorry about the rough landing, but, we're here. so, Do your thing." he said, slightly, okay, a lot, out of breath.

I nodded, then spread my wings with a sigh.

"I've never actually done this before, just heard about how to do it, so" I began.

"Oh that's okay. I'll stay up here with you for as long as you need, so take your time, okay?" Robin said.

I held my wings all the way open, but nothing seemed to happen.

Robin sat down with his knees under him, then looked down his beak at me.

A small breath escaped me as I frowned; trying to figure out just what I was supposed to do to make my wings work.

As it Turned out, I only had to open my wings, because I began to feel a warm feeling pass through my entire body. At the same time, I noticed that my wings were glowing pretty brightly.

"Well," Robin said quietly, "That was easy."

"Yeah. And I guess we just sit until they stop glowing." I stated.

"Seems like it." Robin said with a strange look I couldn't quite read.

Then, he stood up and took a deep breath of the warm night air.

He blew it out slowly, but I could tell he enjoied the way the air smelled, so I didn't bother asking if anything was wrong.

"Season's changing." he said.

"What?" I asked.

I knew that seasons changed regularly, but I had no idea the change could be smelled, and said as much.

"You learn how to smell the change only when you spend a lot of time outside so"

A loud screaching sound cut him off. We both looked up just in time to see another bird diving directly at Robin.

I jumped to my right and got ready to defend myself and Robin, but the other bird did something very unexpected.

I thought it was going to attack him, but it kissed him instead.

Needless to say we were both grosed out.

"Hay you, you can't just go around kissing other birds that might have girl friends!" I yeled at the newcommer.

"Besides which, us birds don't kiss to show love, we do it to comfort one another." Robin explained.

"I didn't knaaah" the other bird began.

It then made a strange sound before starting again.

"I didn't, understand that." it said.

"Feara." Robin stated.

"How do you knaaah" she stopped again, but, at least as far as I could tell, she looked more annoied than angry with herself.

"How are you aware of my name?" she asked.

"Yup. You're defanatly feara." Robin said, making his eyes grin.

I felt sorry for the bird, so I went over to her, and turned on my healing powers to se if I had the erge to do something to fix her.

Immediately, I felt the warmth of the healing erge pass through my body, and I then started the process of figuring out what part of Feara's body it was guiding me to heal.

After some time, I realized it wasn't really an injury of Feara's I was supposed to heal, but rather some kind of mental problem instead.

Feara kissed Robin again before turning to me.

"If you are a healer, then you should have psy powers right?" she asked.

"I do, but I haven't used them for healing yet. why?" I asked.

"Maybe you can fix my problem." she explained.

I checked her out again, and confirmed that she did indeed have some kind of mental problem, though fixing it was way beyond my skills.

"I'm not really sure what mental problem you've got, but I can't fix it." I said with more regret in my voice than I wished to show.

"Hmm maybe Liz can?" Robin asked with a strange expression on his face.

"Their's only one way to find out, but can I at least finish gathering moon light first?" I asked.


	6. Chapter 6

Attached

A Pokémon Persona Crossover Fanfiction

by Three Black Noises

Chapter 6

Trey and Bella got back not to long after Robin took Hope topside, and I joined Trey as bella whent off somewhere else.

Trey sat down at the living room table and proceedded to open his package.

After he flipped through some papers for over a minute, I asked, "So, what's the translation?"

He sighed irritably before saying, "Ruby thinks that you came through with Tina."

"Okay, so, is that bad?" I asked.

"Yes, but seeing as Tina should have been the one coming to look for my sister, it makes sence but"

Trey stopped talking for a time, and Liz came to sit by me; picking up the thread of the conversation as the others came to join us as well.

"Now we have a bit of a problem, right?" she asked.

"Sort of." Trey said slowly before clearing his throat nervously.

"Okay, So what's our problem?" sarah asked.

"I am not Tina." Trey said simply.

"Well let's just make another coin call and get her here." Bella said; having returned from her errand.

"I would do that as a last resort, but I think we can still make contact with my missing sister provided we can even find her in the first place.

"Okay, That sounds reasonable." sarah observed.

"Chu man. we'll find her." Chris said.

"Chu, man?" I asked.

"I just, felt like saying it for some reason." Chris said; mystified.

"You always use to tell people that back home." Liz said softly.

"Is it kind of like 'chill man'?" I asked.'

"Yes, it is." Liz answered with a small laugh.

"So does that mean I could get the first six months of my memories back?" Chris asked excitedly.

"Maybe, but I'd be happy if most of your trates came back myself. We can always work on where you've been and the like, but your personalitty is something we can't just teach you, if that makes any sence." Liz answered.

"Yeah it does." Chris said softly.

"Any clues in Ruby's message?" I asked; getting back to the subject at hand.

"Yes, but I cannot make it out." trey said in a vary puzzled way.

He paused for some seconds before reciting,

"In the language of the one whom you arived with... my name in this world is formed thus.

Place my name on parchment in the language of dots.

From the letters of my name, remove one dot from the first letter and turn the third ninety degrees clockwise."

Trey paused at this, then poked me just a little bit to hard in my ribs.

"Does that mean anything to you?" he asked.

He then added a vary quiet "Sorry." in my direction.

"Her name is spelle Y, correct?" I asked.

"I do not know. If it is, does that help you out?" Trey asked.

"Yes it does. See, the only letters you can get by removing a dot from R would be, H, L, and, a dropped F, but L makes the most sence seeing as a B turned clockwise becomes a C." I explained.

"Lucy?" Liz asked.

"NPdB should have an entry on her then." Crystal said; coming in from another room.

"NPDB?" I asked along with Chris and Christina.

"National Pokémon Database." crystal explained as she headed for her office.

Trey and I followed her, and I asked the others to join us. They declined saying; in different ways; that this was Trey's issue, and they trusted me to tell them anything they needed to know.

So Crystal got back in front of her PC and brought up some kind of web site.

"It's built into TVs to, but I can do it easier from here." crystal explained as she typed vary quickly.

"This kind of looks like what alder used." Trey explained.

"More or les, but more advanced, and we're going to use vary spesific sirch terms." Crystal explained.

She started typing again.

"wigglytuff, Lucy." she said as she typed.

We didn't have to wait long.

"and here we go. All Wigglytuff named Lucy. Any one of these look like your sister?" Crystal asked.

Trey tried to look at the screen, but he was to short.

He grunted as he tried to pull himself up to se better.

"Just sit in the chair." Crystal said; vacating it.

Trey took said chair while making nurvous sounds.

"You can't mess anything up." Crystal encouraged as she moved to stand by me.

Trey wasn't in the chair long before he said, "This one has to be her."

Trey tapped the screen, but nothing happened.

"Use the mouse." Crystal said.

She used her hand to point out said mouse before trying to rap her arm around me.

As trey figured out how it worked and started clicking around, Crystal moved into an extremely awkward hug.

"This, is, awkward, but Bella says I need to learn how to do it." Crystal said; trying to figure out the best way to rap her arms around me.

"Speaking of." Trey said.

"What. Hugs?" Crystal and I asked.

"Yes." Trey said with a little bit of anger coming into his voice.

Crystal disengaged from the hug to look at the screen, then gasped before saying, "Maybe you'd better let me have my chair back."

"Why is my sister hugging that lady?" Trey asked in the time it took him to get up and Crystal to sit down.

Crystal didn't take long to answer.

"That's her owner. Maybe your sister is trying to make some kind of life here because she can't get home?" She suggested.

"Are you saying my sister has a trainer?" Trey asked.

"No, she's, basically a pet." Crystal explained.

"Oh no! What do we do now." Trey moaned.

"Easy. We call her owner." Crystal said, clicking a button on her screen.

"At this hour?" I asked.

"Wowe! Hello?" a high-pitched voice from the PC asked.

"RUBY?" Crystal asked.

"Yes? TO WHOM am I speaking?" the voice asked.

"This is Crystal Brightstar."

"The, Crystal? The one that works with all the computer stuf?" Ruby asked.

"That's me, and I've got someone here who's dieing to speak to you."

At this, Crystal poked Trey somewhere that made him give a little "Tuff!" as he was pushed into screen range.

"Trey?" Ruby asked after a moment of stunned silence.

"Yes. I am quite afraid that I messed up, and got sent here instead of tina." Trey explained.

Ruby didn't say anything for a few beats, then, "What happened?"

I felt Trey's ears, and saw they were drooping.

"I, tried to pass an obstruction during my coming of age ceremony, and, made him appear instead."

I stepped forward and introduced myself.

Ruby thought for some time, then asked,

"Did they use Michael's arrival to stage a political show to get you out here?"

I thought the question was directed at Trey, and I was right, for he sighed deeply before answering yes.

Ruby thought some more before saying, "Okay. This can still work out alright. Trey, is your memory still good enough to recall all the old stories?"

Trey laughed.

"Yes it is. Why do you ask?"

"Because I'll need it so I can make sure I remember all of them well enough to translate them into english."

"You do remember that I cannot sing anything except the parish song, correct?" Trey asked.

"I do." Ruby answered before making a little sound like sheead been caught doing something bad.

"Lucy, who are you talking to?" a woman's voice asked.

"Oh, Jade, I didn't hear you come in. This is my brother Tray." Ruby replied.

"Trey?" Jade asked with a puzzled tone.

"I thought you said Tina would be the one who answered the summins."

"She would have, if she'd been the one they sent. However do to a blunder on my brother's part, he was the one they sent instead. He can still help with the translation; if not the singing, so the effort wasn't a total waste."

"I see." Jade said quietly.

She thought for a few seconds then, "How soon can you get to a pokémon center to send him over?" she asked.

I thought the question was directed at me, so I opened my mouth to answer, but Crystal spoke first.

"We can send him right now if you wish. I've got a transfer machine here for, other reasons, as well, so just tell me where I'm sending him and we'll get him there."

"Okay. I guess you can get my ball ready."

I gave Trey a look.

"I do not much like the capture ball, but I also want to help my sister in tina's place, so I will go in a ball this once." he said.

So arrangements were quickly made with Jade for the transport.

As I put Trey in his ball, Ruby said to Jade, "By the way, my real name is Ruby."

"So that's why you laughed when I gave you that nikname huh?"

"It is. Also, and I learned this later, Lucy and Ruby are very simular in braille. That's how I mane sure we got the correct Wigglytuff."

"I see. Anything else you want to tell me?" Jade asked Ruby as Crystal got the machine ready.

"There is one more thing, though it doesn't relate to anything we're doing. My mother's name translates as Jade."

I heard Jade getting things ready on her end as she broke out in a huge laugh.

"Oh! That makes me feel a lot better. All this time I thought you were giving me that look when you said my name because you hated jade stones or something."

They both laugh together as Crystal made ready to send Trey over.

"Take care of him please?" I asked.

"Will do." Ruby then Jade said as Crystal took Trey's ball from me.

As she ran through the transfur procedure, she explained it to me so I'd know how trading worked if I ever wanted to engage in one.

After the transfur was confirmed, I left crystal to her work so I could explain what had just happened to the others.

I found all of them in one of the front rooms engaged in conversation.

"It seems to have worked." Liz was saying in a puzzled way.

"Feara." a new voice said in a rather bord way.

"Guess not." Robin said sadly.

"Don't knock it yet. These things can take time to work. Just try saying things with o in them every now and then and see if you can." Liz explained.

"I will." the new comer said.

It was at that time that I was noticed.

Introductions were quickly made between feara and myself, and I learned that she was an acquaintance of Robin's that he was helping out.

I then explained Trey's situation, and was told by everyone present; Liz mostly; that I made the right decision to let him reunite with his lost sister.

"So, what's the deal with Feara?" I asked.

"She's a Fearo who can't make the o sound, as I'm sure you've figured out by now, so I've kind of made it a little project of mine to attempt to fix her. Liz and Hope have just done, something with their joint powers that should fix her speach problems, though it might take some time for it to work." Robin explained.

"Are you wild?" Christina asked.

"Definitely, but due to my, inconvenience, it's vary unlikely that any wild bird Pokémon will except me as a mate." she explained in a manner that told me that she had to choose her words vary carefully so as to avoid an embarrassing situation.

"How about coming along with us." I offered.

"Why." feara challenged.

"Hope and sarah will be leaving together soon. Hope's going to serve abord a medical ship, and sarah's going to be her emotional support.

Trey you already know about, so their are plenty of spots open.

Aside from that, Robin needs a teacher for, bird things, and even though I'd like to be that teacher, I'm smart enough to know I wouldn't be vary good at it, as I know vary little about birds myself.

So, if you were willing to teach him, maybe I could sit in on the lessons and learn to?" I explained.

feara thought about my offer for a long time, and more than just me waited with bated breath.

"Flying requires flying." feara said simply.

I thought about what she'd said, and when I figured out what she ment, I couldn't help but bristle inside, just a little bit.

"Oh really, we living requires seeing, but I do plenty of living despite not seeing, so your argument holds no water." I said.

Feara took a vary long time to choose her words this time.

"You, do not, have wings. It will be, vary hard, to make you understand, what birds do, without them." she finally explained.

"I think, I just might have an answer to that." liz said with a little laugh.

Several minutes later found all of us; Crystal, bella and Bethany included; standing out back of Crystal's house.

Feara assessed robin's current flying abillitties, then asked Liz to begin the experiment.

Said experiment consisted of Feara going through various flying maneuvers while liz used her powers to keep feara suspended about four feet above the ground in a stationary position.

Feara explained what she was doing while I felt her body go through its motions and poses.

Robin then tried to repeat the motions and actions under feara's supervision.

Even though Robin's body was much heavyer than feara's, Liz felt abliged to hold him in the same position so I could feel how differently he went through the same motions.

I knew Crystal; as well as all my other friends; would most likely have questions for the two birds, but I was surprised to hear Bella and even bethany putting their own questions forth.

Liz encouraged me to ask questions as well, and I ddid with some trepidation; fearing mine might be slightly idiotic; compared to those everybody else was asking. Liz told me that their was no such thing as an idiotic question, for only by asking idiotic questions does one stop being an idiot and start being smart.

I wasn't exactly on bord with that philosophy, but I understood what she meant, so I just started asking away.

As a result, I came away from the twenty-minute session with a greater knoledge of; and greater respect for; birds and all they could; and couldn't; do.

The ordeal left Liz extremely tired, so she headed in to bed earlier than I did.

Hope expressed a desire to regather the energy she'd used up trying to fix Feara, and feara; perhaps feeling guilty for causing hopes discomfort, agreed to stay up with her so the rest of us could get our sleep.

Robin didn't seem to object, so I took that as a sign and went into the house with the others.

"It's not connected to anything." Sara was saying as I entered the bedroom crystal had given us for the night.

"What's not connected to anything?" I asked; curious.

"Just a door in the middle of nowhere." Liz replied in a somewhat distracted way.

"Could it be an entrance to that velvot room place you talked about?" sarah asked.

"What door. I don't see one, unless your talking about the closet." Chris said from just behind me.

It dawned on me at that moment, that only people who might have a persona could actually see an entrance to the velvot room. Sarah; with her evolved form living in her head; qualified as a persona user, and Liz did to; at least according to Margaret.

"That's because you haven't awakened to a persona yet." I explained as I pulled out the velvot key igor had given me in the dream.

"I take it Chris just confirmed my idea?" Sarah half asked, half stated.

"That is correct my good lady." I said in a joking manner as I approached the door and felt it with my cane.

You're just going in, right now?" liz asked.

"Might as well get it over with." I said as I insirted the key into the lock.

Liz sighed as she took a position to the right of me.

"I'm tired, but their's no way you're going in their without me." she said.

"I want some answers about how Prinplup is living in my head and stuff, so I'm coming to." Sarah said as she took up a position on my left.

Well it looks like we're doing this..." I said, then, I turned the key, and everything went weird as we stepped into another world; or at least, some kind of in-between-world.

The door seemed to close after we passed through it, leaving us in some kind of room.

"Welcome to the Pokémon center. How may I help you today." Margaret asked.

we were in the main lobby of a Pokémon center, standing at the door that normaly lead back to the guest quorters.

"Well I don't think I need healing at this time, but is it possible to leave through the front, or is this all their is to the velvet room?" I asked.

"Go ahead and see for yourselves." Margaret invited, so we did.

Liz, Sarah, and I, emerged from the Pokémon center into a sunny spring day, with birds; not Pidgey or Spearow, but birds from my world; singing and the wind gently blowing against us.

"A, town?" I asked stupidly.

"Sort of. If you'd consider something with three buildings, no wait, four, buildings, a town." Liz said.

"I guess so." I said just as Sarah made a strange sound, then asked, "What's that high-pitched noise?"

"That would be bird song, from my world." I answered as I started to take Liz's arm.

She pulled it away saying, "I could help you, but why don't you use your cane?"

"So, where to?" I asked as we started walking.

"Well, their's the Pokémon center, if you want to turn around and visit Margaret again, but their's also, a Pokémart, a large brick building, and, what looks like a house, with." Liz began laughing.

"Well that's quaint," Liz said when she stopped laughing. "A, car, out front." she finished.

"Probably just set dressing. Let's start with the house." I said, and Liz turned right and began jogging.

"Wait!" sarah called from behind, "I can't woddle that fast!"

We waited for her to catch up, then we began jogging again; though slightly slower.

When we reached the house, we found that it was, indeed, a house.

Liz tugged on the front door, and it opened onto a small living room and a bed room with, only, one bed.

I realized, however, that it was a rather big bed; with velvet bed clothes, and thought twice about any perverted suggestions on behalf of the velvet town's chief proprietor.

I set Sarah down on it and began to look around as Liz did the same.

I found that their was also a big table; velbot table cloth included; with several velvet chairs set below a big window; most likely with velvot curtains; that let in the sunlight.

"Looks like a reading desc." I called to Liz who was poking around the outside of the room.

She came back to me.

"That's weird, their's no power. No light switches, plugs or anything, which I guess explains the reading desc positioned to catch the light from outside." she said.

"I guess so, but we have no books to read." I pointed out.

We began walking back to the front of the house slow enough so Sarah could walk with us.

We exited, and Liz headed down the drive a ways.

"I want to check something first before we check out that brick building." she said.

I folowed her footsteps until they stopped at the car.

I heard Liz try the driver's door, and as it popped open, I heard her slide behind the wheel.

I got in on the passenger side as Liz closed her door.

"Um, what are you doing?" I asked; somewhat perplexed as to why a Gardevoir like Liz would even be intrested in the workings of; or even trying to work; a human peace of technology.

"I figure, cars have some kind of power source right?" Liz began as Sarah climbed in with me.

I had no clue regarding Sarah's wanting to bee in the car, but as Liz and I were already in, I figured she just wanted to be included and didn't object.

I closed my door; with a small grunt; before answering, "Yeah, they run on batteries, why?"

as I felt for Liz, I couldn't help noticing that the car's seats and center console were covered in velvet, and that the car was well-maintained at about the middpoint of its life.

"Seeing as the house has no power, I'm thinking maybe this thing does, as soon as I find out how it works." Liz finished.

"Oh I know!" Sarah squealed; jumping almost into Liz's lap.

"You 'gotta have keys to work it!" Sarah exclaimed; looking around near the gear shift.

"Keys? Did someone say keys?" a high; bored; voice asked.

"I did, but who are you?" Sarah asked; not seeming the least bit perturbed.

"Just Klefki, your local key fairy." The voice responded; seeming to float closer to us from the back seat.

"Key fairy? I've never heard of you before." Liz said.

"That's not to surprising, noone wants me. I just like collecting keys, and my only useful power would be that of trapping all non-ghost type Pokémon." Klefki explained.

"That could be vary useful to me, as I'd like to befriend Pokémon rather than enslave them." I explained.

"So you'd make me hold Pokémon in place so you can, talk to them? Yeah, I'd enjoy doing that." Klefki admitted.

"Oh no! Does that mean we're all trapped in here with you?" Sarah asked; her voice much higher than normal.

"No, I have to decide to trap Pokémon, and I haven't used key lock on any of you yet." Klefki explained as he? floated closer to Sarah and offered her a key.

"Well? You 'wunna turn my only key?" he asked.

"Only if it won't hert you." Sarah admited.

She put the key into the ignition, then; vary slowly; turned it forward; probably with Klefki's help.

"Guess not." she quietly said when no response was forth coming.

She turned the key back and forth a few times with a quiet "Hmmmm." as she did so.

The car suddenly made a low humming sound; causing Sarah to gasp.

Liz was messing with the console; apparently trying to open it.

At Sarah's exclamation however, she stopped, seemed to look around, then exclaimed, "Uh oh! what'd you do Sarah?"

after a time, Sarah asked, "Hmm, their's so many indicaters. I guess I turned the car on huh?"

"Yep. We have, power." Klefki drawled.

"Whow! What are all those!" Sarah asked.

"Uh, I'm not really sure." liz answered.

Suddenly, their was a soft knock on Liz's door.

"Robin, how'd you get here?" Liz asked in surprise after opening her door.

"Through the same door you took." Robin answered pleasantly.

"What's she want to know about?" he asked; leaning into the car.

"These things above the wheel." Liz answered; tapping the gages.

"Gages. That means they tell you things. In this case." robin began as he leaned in over Liz.

He used his wing to tap on the gage pannel saying, "Gass, oial , speed, total miles, and trip time." with each tapping sound.

"Hmmm, their's some logic to that." liz said quietly.

"Who turned the key?" Robin asked in a strange way without leaning out of the car just yet.

"That would be me." Sarah and Klefki replied.

"Wow a Klefki!. Nice to meat you, I'm Robin."

"wait you know of me?" Klefki asked; seeming to be taken aback.

"Just rumors really. Nice to see one in the flesh, uh, steel? though." Robin answered.

"Wow. I wished for a friend, and got a bunch of 'em." Klefki drawled.

"Well, that answers the question of how you got here." I said before Sarah made to speak to robin.

"Hay Robin? What are these two things?" she asked; tapping at something on the dashboard.

"The letters E and F. Looks like you've got a full tank of gass, somehow." robin responded.

"That's odd. I don't see where we'd go if we could drive this car." I mused.

"Of course you can't." Klefki scoffed before catching himself and amending his statement to, "I mean, i can't either."

"See? or that there's nowhere to go?" I asked.

"Nowhere to go." Klefki responded as Liz began to remove herself from the car.

"Hang on a sec." liz said as she did so.

After Liz left, sarah got behind the wheel and began to mess with the console as Liz had been doing. After a minute or so, she mannaged to get it open.

"See! My flippers can do things! They can!" she said; doing a little dance.

"None of us ever said they couldn't." I said gently as Liz returned from whatever she'd gone to do. She had to move sarah over to sit back down, but Sarah didn't seem to mind, as she simply said, "I know." as if the conversation hadn't stopped. She dugg around in the console; exclaiming at its contents. She then picked something up and handed it to me.

"We have music, but, what is that?" she asked.

"CDs? But how do you know what they look like?" I asked; laughing.

"They play music in the lab, and I saw Juniper put a CD in a few times." sarah answered while I looked at the device she'd given me.

It didn't take long for me to figure out what it was. An adapter that fit into the cigaret lighter that turned it into a standard electrical plug and USB connecter.

"Now we have power to run or charge stuff if we need it." I said.

Sarah guided my hand into the console to find lots of CDs, all in joule cases.

I pulled one of the CDs out, then opened and closed its case a few times.

Can I please see that?" Liz asked as she turned on the radio.

I handed her the CD before we surfed through a bunch of stations, but they were all playing some version of "Aria of the Soul" from the Persona games; not to surprising, really.

"What pretty music." Sarah said dreamily as Liz popped open the joule case and slid the CD into the slot on the front of the radio.

"..You affirm today that you intend to abide by our sacred rules

and uphold our equally sacred beliefs?"

It was Daniel's voice, from the wigglytuff village, but more inportant than that, it was the vary first words I'd heard from the Pokémon world, but with greater clarity.

As I knewhe he would, Trey answered, "I do!"

"and, as a member of our society, you hereby agree to be..."

And on, and on it went.

"It's an audeo journal." Robin said in wonderment.

"Cool!" Sarah exclaimed.

"Yeah, it is." I reflected before saying, "Well Liz, you got your answer, now I'm wondering what's in that brick building."

"Fair enough." laughed Liz as she took out the CD and put it back where it came from.

"wow, their are a lot of CDs in here." Liz said as she rummaged through the console.

"What'd they do, record everything we ever said or did?" I asked.

"No, It looks like most of these are just place holders." Liz said quietly before closing the console.

"Can I finished listening to the pretty music?" Sarah asked.

"Maybe later okay?" Liz laughed as she reach for the key. Sarah stopped her however, saying, "Please, can I do it? I need to practice with my flippers so I can make them as versatile as possible so I can be of help to Hope as much as I can." she explained.

"Oh I don't know, can you turn the key, without Klefki's help? Because I'm positive Robin can't." I laughed; Mildly curious as to the capabilities of a pair of small, fingerless hands; that were closer to wings than not; on a bird like Sarah.

"Don't be smart with me. It can't be that different from opening a bottle." Sarah admonished with a laugh.

"I'm not." I laughed back. "I'm beeing serious when I ask if you can do it. And just so you know, it's a little different than opening a bottle, as the angle has changed." I finished.

"Well, let's see," Sarah said before attempting to manipulate the key, uh, Klefki.

(I doubt she can.) Liz thought at me.

(Give her a chance.) I thought back.

As Sarah played with Klefki, I decided to ask Liz about her little excursion outside the car.

(So, what'd you find a minute ago?) I thought.

(I can't walk more than fifty paces or so beyond the buildings, but my eyes can see for a great distance, though their's nothing but emptyness, and sky.)

(Their's not even any ground?)

(Their is, but their wouldn't be any point in attempting to drive on it, seeing as their's nowhere to go.)

"I CAN'T DO THIS!" Sarah sort of sobbed.

"Sure you can, just stay calm." Robin encouraged.

(So what stopped you from walking beyond the buildings.)

(Nothing it would seem. I just couldn't walk beyond a cirtain point.) Liz explained.

Sarah blew out a vary loud breath.

"Still can't do it huh." Klefki stated.

"What do you think?" Sarah asked in a sulking tone.

"It sounds to us like you're having a rather hard time with your task, but we're here if you need help." Liz said.

"I do, but I'd like for Robin to try." Sarah said in a vary quiet voice.

So Liz got out of the car, but Robin didn't take her place.

"Um, Sarah?" Robin began.

"At least try, please?" Sarah pleaded.

Robin let out a strange sound that could have been the bird version of a sigh as he climbed into the driver seat.

"Wow you look so cool." Sarah breathed.

"No I don't. I look positively stupid." Robin laughed.

"Hmm, let's see then." Liz said playfully before closing the driver side door and walking to the front of the car.

I knew what she was doing; looking in at Robin through the wind shield as if he were a person.

"Liz?" Robin asked after half a minute had passed.

After a full minute, he actually sighed this time; long and low, kind of like a person, but still more like a bird because; well, that's what he was.

"All right Sarah. I'll prove to you that I can't deactivate this car." Robin said low in his throat before trying to turn Klefki with his wings.

As I expected, he failed, but Sarah didn't laugh at him, or even admonish him for failing.

"Nope, can't do it." he said with finality.

Though Robin seemed to give up on Klefki, he still moved his wings around, almost like he was thinking about saying; or doing; something.

"You know Sarah, It's not cowardice at all to ask for help." he suggested.

"I know, but Hope needs me to be strong for her." Sarah replied.

"It's not weekness to say to someone that you need help." Klefki said.

As he was speaking, Robin gathered Sarah to him; something his wings could actually do; then began singing to her.

"What's that?" I asked after he sang for a time.

"Nothing much, just something Mom always sang to me. I thought it might perhaps help Sarah to." he said softly.

"How much do you remember about her?" she asked.

"Not much. Just that song really." Robin said.

"At least you have good memories of your mother." Sarah said wistfully.

After a short time she added, "And it's good wisdom I'll keep with me."

"I wish it were more." robin said vary quietly.

"You've got a pretty voice." I complimented.

"It's nothing special." Robin said modestly.

"Could you tell me what that song means?" I asked

"Later okay? It's not, something that translates into english well." he explained.

"How do you know?" Sarah asked.

"Because I got caught singing it by one of my former masters, and failed to translated for them. Though, their is a bit in their about gaining strength by asking for help." Robin explained.

"If you like, I can work on it here in my boredom." Klefki offered.

"He can't except your offer, at least, not if my plan goes off perfectly." I replied; just as Liz opened the door and leaned in.

"Wow Mr. Robin, you look like quite the distinguished gentleman." She observed.

"I get that a lot." Robin said as we extrocated ourselves from the car.

"wait their for me Klefki, okay?" I asked.

"No problem." he said, and I heard him remove himself from the ignition after deactivating it.

"I do wonder why the power resides in a car and not the buildings?" Liz asked as we began walking tward the brick building.

I knew their was no way Liz hadn't heard Robin's song; or my request to Klefki, but I could tell by the way she didn't ask about it that she was keeping out of business that wasn't hers.

"The velvet room always has some form of locomotion, so I guess it, kills two birds with one stone, by doubling as our power source." I responded to her question.

"Besides, its better than having something like, the Velvet Trailer Park." I added as an afterthought.

Liz and Sarah were both grosed out by my statement.

"Yeah, those are nothing but breeding grounds for Grimer and Koffing." Liz added.

By then, we were climbing the stone steps of the building.

"Ladies first." I said; holding the door for Liz and Sarah.

"why thank you sir." Liz said; a bit amused.

"I've been waiting for you!" said a vary familiar voice; at least to me anyway.

The door closed behind all four of us as we enterd, and someone; most likely the owner of the voice; came tward us.

for those who don't know," the voice continued, "My name is Igor, and, as always, I'm delighted to make your acquaintance. Please, take a seat. We have much to discuss."

Liz lead me to some chairs, and we took seats, with Sarah opting to sit in my lap.

Igor took a chair opposit us, then continued.

"I am the master of this velvet town, and, also the master of this library as well."

"I don't get it. I thought this place only took the shape of a single room." I asked.

Igor chuckled lightly before answering.

"My boy, this place takes the shape of what ever environment its guests require. In this particular case however, I've gone slightly out of my way to give you a little bit of extra assistance. For example, this library is fully stocked with books containing all the knowledge you'll ever need concerning Personas, as well as everything, Margaret and I could find, regarding the world you now find yourself inhabiting."

"Why books? And are any of them in braille?" I asked; wondering if he'd had that foresight as well.

Why yes my boy! It would be offal rood of me to invite you here to gather knowledge, and then force someone like Liz or Robin to read to you instead of gaining knowledge themselves." Igor answered.

"Thank you sir. That meands a lot to me, and, if it's okay, I do feel in bad need of a little bit of a refresher on my persona knowledge." I said; starting to rise from my seat.

"Hold on just a minute their Michael. their are a few rules regarding the knowledge within these walls." Igor said, and I sat; hoping the price of knowledge wouldn't be to steep.

"While you are all free to take books out of this building, I must insist that you don't take them out of the Velvet Town. You may take them back to the house for easier reading, but any knowledge that leaves this town does so in your own heads. Understood?"

I nodded, and I guess the others did the same.

"And, to answerer your other question, we have to use books, because, the Velvet Room, cannot produce electricity of any kind."

I thought about pointing out that Igor was wrong, but decided against it.

"If you haven't yet, I highly advise you to visit the other buildings before you take your leave, as you'll find the services within extremely valuable on your journey. Also, take note that time, moves at a slower pace here than in the Pokémon world, so this place can act as a sort of haven to you, and all your Pokémon with the persona ability, as well as possibly those without it, whenever you need it.

I thanked Igor again, and started to rise again. This time, Igor didn't stop me, but he did follow us.

Eventually Liz cleared her throat.

"Yes Liz?" Igor responded.

Liz didn't say anything for a time, and Igor finally spoke up again.

"Liz, you present the appearance of someone with a question on her lips. Please, speak your mind, and I'll try to answer to the best of my ability.

"Well, Margaret said that I was Michael's persona, but I'm just a humble Gardevoir."

"Yes you are my dear, but the bond your kind forge with humans is not unlike that of a human and his or her persona partner.

That aside, my assistant wasn't intirely accurate regarding your status.

While it is true that you and Michael share a mental link, as far as personas are concerned, you will mostly function as a conduit for Michael's imagination and fill in the gaps his, inconvenience creates."

"so, I imagine something, and it passes through Liz and becomes a persona?" I asked.

"Yes that is correct, however this world will allow the persona ability to function in a somewhat different way, and perhaps help it manifest even stronger powers as well."

"But one thing I don't get is how personas get stronger, and what are they anyway." Sarah put in.

"Well, Personas are, in simple terms, the aspirations of the host.

You for example, envision yourself as a being much stronger than your current form, but are afraid to assume it for fear of forgetting yourself, correct?"

"Yes, but how" Sarah began.

"My girl, it's plane to see. You are a vary small bird who lacks the ability to fly, and you're also quite clumsy in your movements, thus lacking the grace you wish to have."

Why, yes, but how did you know that?"

"This space, the library in particular, is a space for the fusing of personas. as such, I have the ability to sence the dreams that make up each one." Igor Explained.

I wondered how he could understand Sarah, but given that this was the velvot roomm, anything was possible.

"So, if I found a Pokémon with a big dream, I could make it a persona?" I asked.

"Yes, provided you get the creature in question to share its dream willingly, in whitch case the manifestation of the dream would become a persona, but function almost like a Pokémon, and would be trainable accordingly. As for personas that come from Pokémon already in your party, like Sarah here, you train them, much like Pokémon, but you need to be aware that a persona's health, as well as it's abillity to cast magic spells, comes from your own strength, or in the case of Sarah, her own strength, so she would also need to keep up her training in order to allow her persona to function at her maximum potential."

"So, if Michael, got one of those Personas from a Pokémon that shared its dream, wouldn't that mean the he'd need to get stronger as well?" Robin asked.

"It would, and you all need to be aware that any damage taken by such beings that causes them pain,"

"Let me guess, the user would also feel the pain to right?" I asked.

"You catch on fast." Igor complemented.

"So we'll never be persona and, um, partner?" Liz asked while touching me.

"It might be possible if your bond becomes stronger. Speaking of bonds, keep an eye out for not just Pokémon, but humans you could help along your journey, as what we call Social Links greatly increase a persona's power, even more so than training."

"What?" Sarah, Robin and Liz asked.

"Basically, we just keep doing what we've been doing, and, well, I guess we'll see." I said.

"Just so." Igor encouraged as he lead us somewhere in the building.

Robin took that time to speak up.

"Sir? I don't have one of those persona things. How was I able to get into the Velvot Room in the first place?"

"You do have, 'one of those persona things', you just haven't awakened to it yet." Igor replied smoothly.

"Well, even if I can't awaken to it yet, can I at least meat it?" Robin asked.

"That depends. Normally the answer would be no, but if you're ready to meat it..." Igor answered.

Before any more conversation could take place, I heard the sound of a persona being summond; kind of like small glass braking mixed with a wooshing sound.

What came forth, was, not, what I expected. A, vary, tiny bird flew in front of Robin and twittered softly in a deep voice that didn't seem like it could possibly come from such a small creature.

"No. You can't be" Robin began before the bird twittered some more.

"But you're so tiny."

More twittering; a hole lot more of it.

"Well, I'm vary sorry to say I don't really need you at the moment. I just wanted to meat you."

The bird seemed to leave, though their wasn't any actual sound to indicate this, I just knew it was gone.

"So what was that. I don't recognize it." Robin addressed Igore.

"It's not from your world. It's actually from Michael's world. I believe it's a bird they call a robin."

"Just like my name." Robin said softly as we arived at an absolutely massive room of books.

"Liz gasped, "They're so big."

"Some are in Braille, and that does take more space than print." Igor answered.

"Some are in my language." robin said, but I was already diving into the mountain of knoledge, so the rest of what he; or anyone else; said was lost on me.

After a vary long time, I chose some books for later and staggered with them out of the braille section.

Liz met me and used her powers to lift them out of my arms, then they were gone.

"gees Michael, don't hurt yourself carrying so many heavy books." she said as the books vanished.

"They're back at the house, by the way." she explained.

"But you don't need to use your powers just for that, seeing as that's nothing compared to the load I carry around for school." I protested.

"Please, it's like fourty feet to the house, and besides that, I can move some books from one place to another at that distance easily enough."

"Oh." was all I could say.

We found Igor waiting at the door to see us off, and I decided now was as good a time as any to enact my plan.

Igor was; to say the least; surprised to know that a Pokemon; even one as unusual as Klefki; had found its way into the velbet room.

It wasn't that hard to convince him to convert Klefki into my velvet key. In fact, he seemed excited at the prospect of an organic; fully thinking; key.

He explained that the conversion would happen if we could get Klefki to agree to leave with us.

I didn't see any problems with that arrangement, so we bit Igor good by and left the library.

"So, you read to?" I asked Liz as we headed for the only other unexplored building in the town.

"Yes, thanks, and took some books for myself as well." she answered lightly, but didn't volunteer what she'd read, and I didn't ask, yet.

We reached the Pokémart, and a bell rang as we entered.

"Hello!" Called a male voice as we entered.

"Welcome to the Velvet mart. I'm Theodore. How may I be of service today."

"Oh hy! Aren't you Elizabeth and Margaret's younger brother?" I asked; hoping I was right.

"Why yes I am. How good of you to ask."

I noticed that Liz was looking around.

"It's just a standard Pokémart." she called before returning to me.

"We can get this stuff at any Pokémon center." she finished.

"Yes you can, but not at the low low prices I offer." Theodore said with a glow in his voice.

A door slammed somewhere in the back of the place, and a girl's voice said, "Theodore, you really should stop gloating ."

"But they are low." he persisted.

"Oh what ever." the girl said dismissively, then seemed to notice us.

"Where have you two been! I've been waiting for you to show!" she said in my direction.

"This young lady is Lavenza, and she's" Lavenza cut Theodore off.

"I believe I am more than capable of introducing myself if you don't mind." she said before turning back to me.

"Now Michael, I'm actually something like Elizabeth's younger sister, and just so happen to be here to offer you a vary important service. In the left-hand corner of the stor is what I call the Velvet exchange. I'll be watching the deeds you accomplish in the Pokémon world and will give you velvet points you can exchange for some vary valuable items.

"Like what exactly?" I asked.

"Nothing much, just some TMs, a few tomes, and some odds and ends I picked up, junk mostly.

She headed tward her corner of the shop as I addressed Theodore again.

"So I have to pay money for your items?"

Yes, do you need some at this time?'

"How about five potions and the same in antidotes." I said; deciding to test his 'low prices'.

"Okay, seeing as this is your first purchase, that will be ten Poké dollors." he said brightly.

(highway robbery) I thought, but said "Really? done!" as I handed him the money.

"the price might increase slightly as you buy from us, by the way." Theodore said as he took the money.

"But why would you need money anyway?" I asked Theodore.

"Oh, because of reasons." he said breezily.

I knew he wasn't going to elaborate any further, so I left Theodore and headed for Lavenza's corner.

"So you decided to check out my little store after all." she stated as I arived.

"Yes, and to answer your question, I was reading in the library, and lost track of time."

"That was what you'd call a rhetorical question! But, thanks, for answering anyway." she added.

Liz came up behind me and said; vary gently, "Ms. Lavenza? I'm sorry to have to point this out, but he can't read the list."

"I know that! I'm still trying to learn Braille so he can. So could you read it to him just for today? Please?"

"I don't think we have enough points to buy anything today anyway." Liz said politely before gasping, "five hundred points for an, Ability Tome?"

"It teaches a Pokémon the second ability if they have one for good." Lavenza answered matter-of-factly.

"wow." was all Liz said in reply.

I decided we'd better leave and return to crystal's before she started worrying about us, but when I called for Sarah, I got no response.

"wasn't she right behind us?" I asked Liz.

"She and robin left a while ago and, went, oh, my. Let's go." she said as she took my arm and started walking vary fast.

"You used your powers, didn't you?" I asked as we walked.

"Yes, but only just to find our friends." She answered as we got back to the house.

Liz called Sarah's name as we reached the car.

She needn't have, as the same music from before was playing from the car's location.

"It's okay, we're in here." Robin called from the driver's seat of the car.

"Sarah got bord and left, so I followed her here and decided to let her listen to the music." Robin explained after Liz and I had gotten in on the passenger side.

"We also found a few other things to." sarah added.

Seemingly on cue, robin turned off the car and got out; handing Klefki to Liz in the process.

"We checked out the area beyond the car and found it to be some kind of invisible wall. We can reach it, but we can't walk past it, but we do seem to walk in place." sarah explained as Liz and I vacated the car as well.

"That's what I found out as well, though my explaination didn't call it and invisible wall." liz said.

"Like a video game." I mused.

"What?" Robin asked.

"In video games, sometimes the developers will make it so the player can't reach a location even if they can see it. That way the environment still looks nice even if the developers have finished the level, or in some cases, the entire game world." I explained as Liz and I walked around the car to be in better view of sarah and Robin.

"That sounds about right." robin agreed as Sara took Klefki from Liz.

"Watch this." Sara said as she aproached the open drivers door on the car.

As she did, I felt; more than heard; the velvot room work its magic.

Part of the car metaphor shrank itself as sarah got in and showed us that she was now able to expertly activate its systems without Klefki's help.

The music started again, but Sarah must have pressed some control; or combination of them; because the music was replaced by feara's voice.

"And their is not a doubt in your mind that this is the right path for you?" Feara was asking.

"Is their any doubt in your mind that you love" sarah slambed a control with her flipper before we could hear anything else Hope asked.

"This Liam guy has really trained her well." Jade was saying.

Trey sighed. "And here I thought bringing Mom home was going to be easy." he said dejectedly.

Sarah pressed another control.

"...would lie to you mamb. They just disappeared into thin air." Chris was saying.

"If liz is with him then you have nothing to worry about." Crystal replied.

More was about to be said, but Sarah deactivated the car's systems and climbed out, causing the metaphorical apparatus to revert back to its original size.

"See? I told you it'd work. You just had to want it to." sarah said to robin.

"I stand corrected." he replied softly.

"It must be a metaphor for freedom." I laughed.

"Indeed." liz answered in complete agreement as she took Klefki from Sarah and got back into the car herself.

"What button gave us Trey?" Liz asked.

Sarah got in Liz's lap and; I guess; pointed at a button that Liz pressed.

"...with Michael earlier today." Jade was saying.

"How could a level 23 Raichu lose to a level 30 Pidgeot?" Ruby asked.

Liz got out of the car then; after handing Klefki to me.

"I think we might just meat up with Liam again." Liz said quietly in my direction.

"I sure hope not, because he was a jirk, a respectful one, but a jirk none the less." I observed.

"Well, this little trip has been quite enlightening, but am I the only creature that thinks the night is starting to age?" Robin asked in a way that told me he didn't want to talk about the close call we'd both had with Liam earlier.

"Not at all. we have a big day ahead of us, so we all need to hit the hay." I said; deciding to take his hint.

And with that, we followed Robin's lead, and headed for the Pokémon center.

On the way, I filled Klefki in on my plan.

I didn't even get to ask him to come along with us, because he was so happy to have new friends that he asked me if I'd mind if he traveled with us for a time.

That seemed to have sealed the deal, because I felt the velvet key's weight leave my body, and Klefki then disappeared from my arms.

Margaret was waiting for us inside the Pokémon center.

"Leaving already?" she asked.

"Yes, but I guess we need to find out what you're going to do for us first." I said.

"I see. Well, my controbution will consist primarily of keeping tabs on the personas you collect."

She tapped a heavy-sounding book resting on the Pokémon center's front desc  
"Come visit me when you collect some new personas, and I'll record them in here so you can recall them at any time." she explained.

"OH! Oh! Can I put Prinplup in their?" asked Sarah.

"I don't see why not, but at this time only Michael can recall her." Margaret said as she did something.

"Sarah gasped, "Wowe, she's on a card now?"

"Yes, but Michael, you're spiritual reserves are quite low at this point, so I don't recommend using her yet. And speaking of spiritual reserves, I can help you increase them, seeing as we don't really want to encourage the mass fainting of Pokémon just to increase your ability to cast Magic spells using your personas."

Margaret walked to somewhere else in the center as she spoke.

"To that end, the velvet points you'll be aquiring for Lavenza will help in this regard, and I'm also putting together a list of my own little things I'd like to see done in the Pokémon world that will earn you more spirit points."

She set a smaller book down on the desc.

"I'll be loging everything Lavenza observes regarding your accomplishments in here, as well as personas I personally find interesting. I'll increase your spirit points as you show me more interesting personas from this new world."

She wrote something down in the book.

"Prinplup, herself, isn't vary interesting, but the circumstances by which she came into being are, so I'll count this one and give you..."

She paused for a time.

"hmm, how about 50 points." she said, and I felt a new power serge into me.

"That along with your starting points gives you 150, which should do you for a time." she finished.

"What about Klefki?" I asked.

Margaret thought for a moment before speaking.

"Let me think on it. You didn't aquire him from the Pokémon world, and yet he is one." she said before closing the smaller book.

Sarah sighed as I put my hand on the exit door's handle.

"Prinplup's nothing special." she said; imitating Margaret.

"She just means that Prinplup is your evolved form." Robin explained.

"So would you get more points if I had something, cooler?" Sarah asked me quietly.

"Some, but not enough to make it worth forcing your persona to change." Margaret and I replied together.

We then laughed at are little occurance.

"It's not the points I care about, their's just, something, weird about my future self rooming in my head." Sarah said at length.

"A person only has one hart." I said.

"And normally that'd mean only one persona, but Pokémon change form spontaneously, so it's possible that your persona could change once you reach evolution." Margaret explained.

"Besides, what would you have if not prinplup?" Liz asked.

"It doesn't matter." Sarah said; disheartened.

"Well don't let it get you down to much, and please come see us soon." margaret called as we walked through the velvet door and back into the Pokémon world.

Bella was waiting up for us when we arived back in the bedroom at Crystal's place.

I knew it was her without question due to her vary loud breathing.

"So, you've decided to join us once again." she said accusingly.

"Sorry about that, but we found," I stopped their; unsure how much to reveal to what basically amounted to a total stranger.

"Found what?" crystal asked.

"The velvot room." Robin supplied.

"The what?" Crystal and Bella asked at the same time.

So I explained to my new hosts all about how personas workd and the strange Igore who had; somehow; given Sarah, Robin, Liz and I the power the weald them.

We also filled Crystal and Bella in on all the strange events that had transpired ever since I'd arived in the Pokémon world.

After we were all done talking, Crystal thought it all over, then said, "All right. You've already gotten my daughter involved in this strangeness, which; by extention includes Bella and myself, so I'll help you out in the best way I know how."

I thanked Crystal for her efforts before she told us what time it was.

"We all need to get into bed if we're going to make it to that gym match in the morning with clear heads. Feara's staying here for the night, her and Hope have already crashed in the other room along with my daughter and that Raichu she's developed a strange liking for. Their's plenty of room here for all of you, so get comfortable, and I'll see everyone at seven AM sharp." Crystal basically commanded before leaving.

as tired as I was, it was no problem at all to heed her command.

Some time later, Crystal; holding a laptop of some kind; came back into Michael's room and seemed to look around a bit before walking directly toward the location of the velvot room door Michael and his friends had used earlier that night; even though no door could be seen anymore.

As Crystal aproached the place where the door had been, she disappeared into thin air.

If Michael had been awake, he would have heard the sound of the velvot room door opening and closing; vary quietly.


	7. Chapter 7

Attached

A Pokémon Persona Crossover Fanfiction

by Three Black Noises

Chapter 7

"Goooood morning Michael!" Said an unfamiliar voice that roused me from my slumber.

"What time is it?" I mumbled; still half asleep.

"Just after seven in the morning. You've got a big day today, what with your first gym battle and all. Plus you still gotta figure out how you're 'gunna deal with those pesky news reporter people to."

That got me moving.

"News reporters?" I asked as I stumbled to the bath room to wake myself up fully.

"Oh you better believe it. You're the first blind trainer ever! So yeah, news reporter people." the new voice said.

By that point I'd had enough time to splash some vary cold water on my face and confirm that I wasn't dreaming.

"So who are you anyway?" I asked as I came back into the bedroom.

"Rotom sir! Your humble Pokémon assistant. I'm here for whatever you need, and I hope we can be really good friends." the voice answered from somewhere near my waste.

"Rotom. Aren't you an electric ghost type?" I asked.

"That is most definitely correct Michael. So I just checked out some sites and found the questions you're 'gunna be asked today." Rotom replied instantly.

"How! You're a ghost?" I asked.

"Crystal's the most awsomest Marill ever! I'm your Pokédex, phone, and Poképad! Plus Igore made me this awsome body so we can touch and stuff, plus it's powered by crystal tech which means I'm completely unhackable!" Rotom replied.

"Igore? But how'd you get access to the velvot room?" I asked.

"after I came out of the keyboard Crystal was using and made my wish to join you known to her, she, kind of freeked out and brought me before Igore." rotom said in a voice that was softer and lower than the happy voice he'd been using up to that point.

"And he made you a body that's, half computer." I finished.

"More like all computer, but completely organic." rotom replied.

"And Crystal had no idea up to that point that you were hiding out in one of her keyboards?" Liz asked.

I'd thought the others still asleep, so I jumped vary slightly as Liz asked her question.

"Yes that's right." rotom asked; his voice back to the cheery voice that sounded like those little boies in anime do when they're dubbed into english.

Liz put her hand on my arm at that point.

"Crystal woke us all up and told us about Rotom." she explained.

"And we needed to let your meeting gaa" feara made a frustrated sound before trying again.

"...needed to let you make this new friend without interuption, or saa" another frustrated sound.

"That's what Crystal... wanted." Feara finished.

"I see." I said; deciding not to make a deal of Feara's, speach impediment that obviously wasn't fixed by Hope and Liz the night before.

A nock on the door put an end to any more conversation.

bella came in and told us that she'd made breakfast, and that we needed to eat it while Crystal got ready to take us to the gym match.

breakfast time was a combination of a battle strategy review, cuppled with a press interview roleplay session.

Liz lead my Pokémon and I in a sort of call and response game, in witch she'd call out an attack and we'd respond with the correct counter attack or technique.

To my great surprise, Sarah and Hope got every response correct.

As for myself, Liz, Robin, feara, rotom and even Bella and Bethany took turns calling out various things a gym leader might say to a Pokémon to attempt to code commands, and I got most of them correct.

Next, all of them; including chris and christina; took turns asking me questions reporters might ask.

I stayed calm and answered each question as best as I was able without giving to much away.

"what will you do if you lose?" Crystal asked; surprising us all as she came out of her private room.

The question wasn't har to answer.

"I have two more gym battles after this, so I'll just press on." I said calmly.

"Yep! I think you're ready." Cristal said proudly.

"As ready as I'll ever be." I said; giving each of my new friends a quick hug.

Crystal seemed surprised; and a little put off; by the hug, but she excepted it all the same.

As I huggd her, I couldn't help but notice that she'd soaked her body in some kind of moisturizing cream that gave her a pleasant smell.

She must have noticed, because she said; more as an afterthought, "I'm still a water type, and who knows how long I'll be away from water."

After I released her, she went straight for the table where she'd dropped her car keys the night before.

"Now." she began as she picked them up, "Who's going to be your support for today's battle?" she asked.

"Is that like a coach?" I varified.

"More or less." Crystal responded.

"That's easy then. Robin." I declared.

"Why me?" Robin asked in surprise.

"That's easy to. You came up with most of the ideas for our strategies, and you got the hole process started in the first place. Aside from that, you're both a normal and flying type, both types Hope an Sarah will most likely be facing today, and your vary observant, calm, and supportive, things I'll most definitely need, oh and you're vary knowledgeable in lots of things to boot." I explained.

"That's, vary nice to hear, but I thought for sirtain you'd choose Liz." Robin said.

"Liz is awsome to, but you're my choice for today." I said.

Liz put a hand on my shoulder.

"Thanks for thinking of the others to." she whispered.

"Not a problem." I whispered back.

"all right. Now that that's settled, sarah, Hope, into your Poké Balls, gym rules you know." crystal stated.

Hope whent into her ball without any fus what-so-ever.

Sarah, blew out a vary disgusted breath, then exclaimed in her own language, before going into her ball; prompting me to pick up her ball along with Hopes and say softly as I put them on my belt, "Sarah, I'm sorry, but these are the rules."

bella took that time to plunk herself down in a chair and turn on a TV with a remote.

"So, who's watching the battle with me?" she asked.

Chris, Christina, feara and bethany joined her vary quickly.

"I guess that means Liz and Rotom are coming with us huh?" I asked by way of confirmation

I would have taken them anyway, but I felt they had as much of a choice as the others of staying or going.

They didn't give me much of a choice; Rotom saying that as my Pokédex, their was no way I was leaving him behind, and Liz simply saying she was coming along as extra support and a really good friend.

We then headed out to crystal's car after receiving wishes of good luck from all the others.

Crystal let out an exasperated sigh as we pulled into the parking lot of the Aspertia trainer school.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Nothing much. Just that the place is packed, and the reporters are making no secret of their presence." Crystal said.

Robin and I sat next to her in the front. He and Crystal were unencumbered, but Rotom was currently taking up residence in my lap.

I couldn't help but notice what a great job Igore had done designing Rotom; giving him a strange feeling somewhere between a small human child, a plastic doll, and a cuddly; not quite furry; stuffed animal.

"Well?" Rotom began presently, "All we can do is go in there." he finished.

"We sure can't prep anymore than we already have." Liz said from behind me.

"Actually, yes we can." I said; removing Bethany's special potion from my bag as Crystal killed the engine. She didn't make to remove her keys from the ignition however.

"What's that?" Crystal asked; tapping on some kind of touch screen as she did so.

"Something bethany gave me last night. I'm not sure what it does, but I'll need Robin to hold on to it for me, if you can."

I directed that last part in Robin's direction, and instead of answering, he simply leaned over, took the potion in his beak, then transfered it to some place else on his person.

"I'll keep this until you're ready for it. Just say wen." Robin said.

Just then, a voice suddently came from the radeo's speakers.

"...not sure what's going down here today, but you can't argue that word of the first blind trainer has gotten a lot of buz lately." a male voice was saying.

"That's right Jin, everyone's been wondering what Pokémon this teen will be using, but the bigger question on the mind of trainers and non-trainers alike from Kanto to Unova is how this trainer is going to command his Pokémon." a female voice said.

"Of course it had to be them." Robin groaned.

"Who?" I asked.

"Jin and Jennie, a world famous husband and wife battle commentating team." Liz replied.

"So, basically, the best of the best?" I asked.

"That's putting it mildly." Crystal answered in a somewhat shaky voice.

I knew that the choice of who was covering my first televised appearance didn't make much of a difference; as we still had to go through with the gym battle, but I was somewhat comforted by the notion that the best of the best would be evaluating my performance.

I said as much, then made to exit the car, but Crystal locked the doors before I could pull the handle.

"Hay!" Rotom exclaimed.

"Listen everyone. This just got bigger than some local news crews, so I might not be able to stop them from harassing you as I'd originally planned. I can stay with you all and try to provide some cover if you wish, but I'm most likely going to be pretty much useless out their." Crystal explained.

At the same time, she started typing on what sounded like a fold-out keyboard vary fast.

I thought about what Crystal was saying, and decided that things really hadn't changed all that much.

"Word would have spread eventually right? About me I mean." I asked Crystal.

"That's correct." She said; her voice still slightly shaky.

"We've still got our script to follow." Rotom said.

"That's one thing we've got going for us." robin afirmed.

"What if Rotom got some of the reporter's attention." Liz suggested.

"Liz, you're a genius." crystal exclaimed; rather calmly as she continued to type.

The car made a beaping sound, and crystal let out an exclaimation.

"Okay, things aren't as bad as I feard. It's only local news crews out their, so here's what we do."

Getting into the gym turned out to be incredibly simple.

Liz and Robin walked with me, and crystal took Rotom with her.

As we approached the gym, reporters swarmed us; as we'd expected.

However with two targets instead of one, the reporters were forced to split their attention between me; the new blind trainer, and Crystal and Rotom, the strange and fascinating newcommer to Unova, and the strange new form of Rotom who could talk and appeared to interact with the mortal world.

As we'd quickly practiced in Crystal's driveway and reviewed before stepping out of the car, Robin walked behind me, using his wings to give me directions on where to sidestep and turn while I used my cane.

Liz followed at a discreet distance, but was close enough to intervene if things got out of hand.

The questions we'd practiced were asked, but not by as many people as we prepped for.

I staied calm and politely answered all questions with a confident smile, and almost before I knew it, we were inside the school.

Crystal had told me that the gym was actually in the school's back yard, outdoors, away from TVs and other destractions, though we'd still be filmed.

"Are you Michael?" a gruf yet somehow friendly voice asked me as we walked through the school's front half.

"That's me." I afirmed.

"You're right on time. You ready to brake a leg for the world?"

"as ready as I'll ever be." I answered; trying to stay relaxed.

"glad to hear it. Is that Pidgeot behind you your support for the battle?"

"He is." I replied as the man felt my belt and checked it for Hope and sarah's balls.

"Good, only two Pokémon. Looks like everything checks out." he said.

It occurred to me that he'd used some kind of scanning wand on the Pokéballs, and knew what Pokémon they contained.

"One more thing." he said.

"The judges calls are absolute. When a Pokémon is unable to battle, it's unable to battle. Understand?"

I indicated that I did, and the man; probably some kind of securitty; stepped aside, and allowed me to pass through the door in front of me, into the gym propper.

As I moved to open it however, Liz and Crystal ran up behind me, and I was surprised to hear Liz out of breath.

"You ran?" I asked.

"No point in using my powers in here." Liz said to me, then seemd to address the man who'd blocked my path.

"We're with him. I'll be an observer, but Crystal's here to test out her new Rotom Dex that Michael will be using from here on out." She explained.

"no powers, or your friend gets disqualified." the gard woarned.

Liz agreed, but told the man that if anything happened that put me or any of the others lives in danger, all bets were off.

"I understand how your kind do things." the gard said in Liz's direction, then he wished me luck and left.

Crystal set Rotom down, and he promply climbed onto my sholder.

"He wasn't heavy at all, and as he asked if he could sit their, I decided that Rotom would sit on my sholder from now on and be my support; just like Ash's Pikachu in the anime.

"Ready to be my Pokédex?" I asked Rotom.

"You'd better believe it! Let's win this thing!" he said.

with that, I opened the door and stepped into the gym.

"Hy their. welcome to the Aspertia gym." said a kind voice.

"You must be Cheren." I said; offoreing my hand.

"And you must be Michael. Nice to meat you." the man replied; shaking my hand.

I was then directed to take my place as marked on the ground, and Robin lead me onto a kind of raised platform about twenty steps farther into the outdoor room.

"You getting everything?" Rotom asked.

"Lout and clear. we're good to go." Crystal answered from near the door as Cheren took his place.

Another person; standing somewhere off to the side; chose that time to speak up.

"The gym battle between the gym leader Cheren and the challenger Michael will now begin. Each trainer must use two Pokémon, and the battle will be over when either side loses both their Pokémon, either due to the Pokémon passing out from injury or fatigue do to the Pokémon being depleted of stamina. During the battle, only the challenger may substitute his Pokémon. The height limit of Pokémon in this battle is restricted to two and a half feet, the flight limit is restricted to eight feet, and only Pokémon of first or middle evolutionary stages are allowed. Do both trainers agree with the rules?"

The person said all this as if it were memorised; which it probably was.

Cheren and I agreed, and some kind of computer program somewhere must have reached a decision, because the third person; most defanatly the battle judge; declared that I had to send out my first Pokémon.

"I thought" I began.

"New rule. Trainers always had it easy because their strategies always revolved around seeing what they were up aginst before they chose their first Pokémon, so now we use a coin toss app to randomise that particular variable." cheren explained.

That made sence to me, so I reached down to my belt to choose my first Pokémon.

Sarah's ball was shaking, so I grabbed it.

I thought about choosing Hope for a few seconds instead, but came to the conclusion that the strategies Robin and Trey helped me to develop wouldn't be changed all that much if Sarah whent first or not.

"What's wrong?" Robin asked softly.

"Just thinking about who to send out." I answered truthfully.

"You don't have that long." Robin said.

I knew that a trainer only had a set amount of time to choose his or her Pokémon, or risc being disquolified from a battle.

I didn't have to worry about that as I held Sarah's Pokéball in my hand.

Robin guided my hand; showing in which direction to lob the ball with a quiet, "That way." as he did so.

I thanked him, then called out sarah's name as I released the ball in the direction Robin had indicated.

She came out in a state of surprise, but I knew what was causing her state and explained that we had to choose our first Pokémon before Cheren.

That calmed her down just in time for Cheren to call out, "Pidove, I choose you!"

I'd been counting on Cheren not using his flying type and focusing instead on just using his two ground runners.

Being confronted with the little bird gave me a little bit of pause, but Robin was their and knew just what to do.

He shuvved his beak as far as it would go into my ear and whispered a simple message that made me extremely glad I'd chosen him as my support partner for this match.

He reminded me how wind was effected by height, and that; cuppled with the new hight restriction placed on flying types for this match; gave me a plan.

"Sarah, take off, but stay only about this high off the ground." I said; holding my arms level with my elbos; indicating a height of about three feet or so.

In this way; I hoped; any wind generated by Pidove's gust attack wouldn't be enough to blow Sarah to the ground.

sarah took off, and; due in part to her vary low height; was able to fly vary well for her limited flight experience.

"Now shoot Pidove!" I commanded.

Sarah did as she was told; the shot and resultant hit drawing gasps from everyone in the room.

Pidove seemed just a little bit put off by the attack, and sarah pressed her advantage by shooting even more of her water bullets; really just hyper compressed miniature bubble beams; at the other bird.

"Pidove, Workup and dispatch." Cheren commanded in an oddly calm voice.

The workup part, I understood well enough, and so did sarah.

As we'd practiced, she doubled her efforts to attack Pidove during the workup phase, but Pidove was really; and I mean really really; fast, and mannaged to avoid almost all of Sarah's well-placed attacks.

I wasn't sure what the dispatch command referred to, as their was no attack with that name to my knoledge.

as it turned out, it was an instruction to combined Pidove's gust and quick attacks together.

The beafed up quick attack portion knocked Sarah out of her practiced flight routine, while the gust part sent her flying out of the battle arena.

She tried to recover herself and get her bearings, but that only sent her spinning even more out of control.

"Sarah this way!" I called, but she couldn't manage to get herself oriented in time and crashed into one of the gym's walls; falling to the ground with a moan.

"Ringout!" the judge called.

"What's" I began.

"Sarah's out for 100 seconds. Hurry and switch Hope in." robin explained.

"I knew their was some practical reason for the ringout condission, but I also didn't have time to figure it out just now.

I grabbed Hope's ball and summoned her into battle a little quicker than I'd prefered to; and defanatly quicker than we practiced.

"Fair! clefairy!" she screamed before getting her barings.

"Sarah got a ringout when that Pidove used a quick attack and gust combo. Can you use your moonlight wings to keep that bird busy for two minutes?" I asked; praying Hope would say yes.

"We're outside instead of inside, but I'll do what I can." Hope replied before lifting into the air.

Pidove tried the same trick he'd used on Sarah, but Hope's figure made it more difficult for the bird to nock her into a spinnout.

"Hope, give Pidove some technical difficulties." I said calmly.

Hope was shrewd enough to parse my command, because she began using her razer leaf attack to mess up Pidove's wings.

while the vird was trying to get the leaves out of its wings, Hope used hers to get close enough to use pound attack.

As we'd practiced; and correctly predicted, Hope's speed enabled her attacks to do much more damage than they would have on the ground.

cheron simply told Pidove to "Get better."

I didn't think Pidove had the mental capacitty to parse abstract commands, but boy was I wrong.

The bird; somehow; mannaged to shake the leaves out of its wings while still staying airborn.

As it came for Hope once more, I heard her let out a small exclaimation then apologize.

I could tell by the placement of her voice within the vertical space that her moon energy had not lasted as long as we'd planned.

As she landed, Cheron simply said, "Up!"

Pidove flew as high as it could, then simply hovered their; probably awaiting more orders.

"Pidove can't stay up their for vary long." robin said helpfully.

"No he can't, however it's long enough for you to be disqualified from this battle seeing as you have no other Pokémon that can battle for fifty more seconds, and Hope has no moves that can hit Pidove from his current height." cheron taunted.

He was almost right, but I knew of at least one move that Hope was able to use that could hit Pidove if luck was on our side.

If it wasn't, it would at least take up the required fifty seconds for sarah to get back in the fight and finish off Pidove.

"Hope, please use Metronome." I said loud enough for all to hear, but quietly enough to convey the fact that I knew the wrisks involved.

"You sure?" she asked in the same voice.

"We don't have any other options given the circumstances." I told her.

Hope blew out air as she walked a few steps forward.

"If this ends up being a dud, plese don't be mad at me." she said in a quavering voice.

"No worries. Just give it your all okay?" I asked.

I heard Sarah moaning as she started to come to, and knew that even if this did end up calling out something like the Splash technique that did absolutely nothing; as far as I was aware, we'd be back in the game.

"All right." Hope said nervously.

She then began to chant "Fairy, fairy..." over and over in a sing-song voice, and I imagined her waving one of her arms back and forth; left to right; in front of her.

I didn't have any idea how long the summoning would take, though I figured at least thirty seconds was about average based on how long it took in the anime.

Sarah came to about fifteen seconds in, and ran onto the battle field yelling something that wasn't translated by whatever was in my head; either due to the content of what was being said or the fact that Hope was still chanting in the background.

Robin; somehow; scooped Sarah up in his wings and began whispering words of encouragement to her.

Once she calmed down, we both explained the situation, but that only made Sarah even more agitated.

at that time, Hope stopped chanting with a startled, "Huh?" then began a low "claaaaaah" that rose in pitch and vary slightly in volume.

"Pidove, be ready to dodge!" Cheron commanded.

"Hopes call; or what ever it was; stopped rather suddenly, and all of us must have held our breath waiting to see what attack or technique Hope would use.

"After a three second pause, Hope coughed twice, then began to gurgle as if trying to shoot a liquid out of her mouth.

I understood that the technique she'd used was capable of letting her use any other Pokémon technique; including those that made the user shoot water, inc, draconic energy or even chemically induced fire from the mouth, so I told Hope to open her mouth and let out whatever was in their.

Instead of shooting something, she actually spat something onto the gym's dirt floor before coughing again.

Rotom said a four-letter word; that was no doubt being bleeped out of the TV version at that vary moment; before shouting, "Hope just metronomed transform!"

Several things happend vary fast.

Robin; somehow; mannaged to restrain Sarah, Crystal scooped Hope into her arms and began running out of the gym, Rotom jumped off my shoulder while siting some kind of trainer rule to the judge while Liz put her arms around me and teleported the both of us somewhere.

"A clefairy just metronomed transform!" Liz said as soon as we were corporeal again.

"we saw it and are already prepping the isolator unit." a man vary close to us replied.

"Crystal's on her way with" Liz began, but crystal burst through the door at that moment.

She started to say what Liz had regarding Hope's status, but someone was already taking Hope off Crystal's hands.

as the person appeared to lock Hope inside what sounded like a refrigerator, Liz was already moving to sit at a work desc or something and type on a keyboard.

crystal gently moved her out of the way saying, "I know what you have in mind but I can do it faster."

she wasn't trying to show off or anything, just stating facts.

Being a blind computer user, I understood; probably better than most people; how much valuable time could be saved by using keyboard shortcuts; something most sighted people who used computer mice didn't even know existed.

Liz started to move out of the chair, but crystal simply leaned over her long enough to input several vary fast commands and unceremoniously shove a USB thumb drive into a slot.

as Crystal finished her task, Liz picked up some kind of phone and said, "Hope? can you hear me? It's Liz."

"Liz? where are you? where am I?" Hope asked, though her voice kept changing tonality and even gender.

"I'm in a pokémon center, and you're in an isolation machine, somewhere between forms." Liz said calmly.

as she spoke, she drew me into her cubical and pressed a control that raised some kind of baffle that blocked out sound.

"Michael's here with me, and crystal's also here working to see that you don't transform into something other than a clefairy." Liz continued.

"Where's sarah?" Hope asked; now sounding like a gruff middle-aged man.

"still at the gym, holding your place with Robin." Liz said as she pressed a control.

"Hope, can you see yourself?" Liz asked.

"My self?" Hope wondered; now sounding like a little kid; maybe a girl.

"crystal's projecting a picture of you from today's gym battle on the screen in your unit. can you see it?" Liz asked.

"Kinda." Hope responded; now sounding like a Pikachu from the anime.

crystal's voice came through the same speaker Hope's had come from.

"You still want to be a healing clefairy right?"

"I do." Hope confirmed; now sounding like herself again; if vary slightly older.

"Keep do ing whatever you're doing you two. Hope's patterns now look like a Clefairy again." Another voice cut in.

"doesn't transform just let a Pokémon copy what's in front of them?" I asked softly.

"Normally yes, though with Metronome involved, things get, tricky." Liz explained.

"Liz!" crystal's panicked voice called over the speaker.

"Hope just teleported fragments of moon stone into the isolator with her. Can you remove them?"

Liz slapped a control.

"Hope? You don't want to evolve do you?" she asked.

"Of course not." Hope said in the same voice she'd used earlier.

"What's this? It isn't a moon stone is it?" Hope asked.

"It's part of one. You want me to remove it?" liz asked.

"It's not active, so yes please." Hope confirmed.

I felt Liz tense for just a second, then she said, "Okay it's gone. are you still feeling all right Hope?"

"We're almost their." the unknown person said over the speaker.

"Transform energy output at seventeen percent and falling. ETA if zero is within twenty seconds." crystal apprized.

So we all waited twenty seconds.

"Zero percent." crystal said in an unusually somber tone.

"Is Hope okay?" I asked.

"We're about to find out." Liz said into my ear as the isolator unit opened.

"Huh?" Hope exclaimed as she fell onto the flor and picked herself up. Then she screamed.

"It's okay!" i and several other people; including Liz and Crystal; said as we all rushed to Hope's side.

"No it's not. I'm to big to finished the battle." Hope said in a sort of resolved wine.

"That's what you're worried about?" Liz laughed.

"Of course it is! my size isn't really a big deal aside from that factor." Hope explained.

I could tell that her voice now came from about where Liz's did; as far as height was concerned.

"Hope? How do you feel?" Crystal asked.

"I feel fine, if not just the slightest bit warn out." Hope supplied.

"After what you just went through, i'm surprised you're not bone tired." someone; most likely the person in charge of the operation; said; in shock.

I went to give Hope a hug, and realized that; aside from her new height; she was still the same Clefairy I'd already looked at before.

"We'll have to get her tested for battle compatibility." liz said gently.

"I'll get that started right now if you two get back to Sarah's side and finished that gym battle." crystal said.

A gental knock on the door stopped my reply.

Someone answered it, exchanged words with the person outside, then came rushing over to me.

"Are you trainer Michael?" They asked.

"I am." I replied; wondering what had happened to cause a total stranger to seak me out.

"You might want to check in on your gym battle." the person suggested before going back to what they were doing.

"Is their a TV with the gym battle in here?" I called.

"all ready on it." the leader said as a TV came on.

"...Pidgeot really knows his stuf!" a commentator was saying.

"Robin?" I asked in disbelief.

Liz gasped and took my hand as crystal said something unusually colorful; for her at any rate.

Liz pushed me out the door, then did, something, that made me move in tripletime; cane and all; back toward the gym.

In about a minute or so, I was pushing through the gym's doors just in time to here robin say, "...at the ground

sarah screamed something through a mouth of water before Robin shouted "Good girl sarah!"

"What's going" I began.

"They were going to give the match to Cheron so Robin stepped in for you." Rotom explained in a hurry.

In the background, I heard Sarah somehow soaking the battle field in water.

"sarah's trying to make it harder for that Patrat to hit her with it's powered-up moves." Robin explained before adding, "Hope?"

"Fine. May I take over?" I asked as I moved to switch places with him.

Robin pushed me back with his wing as he gave Sarah a command to "Stay out of Patrat's range!"

"It'd take to long to fill you in." rotomn said as Liz slid in beside me.

"We didn't plan this." she said; making a jesture that was supposed to indicate the battle field in front of me.

"Robin made Sarah turn this field into a bog." Liz explained in amazement.

"I get that." I said as Sarah took a hard hit that made her cry out in frustration more than pain.

"I know it doesn't seem like that potion helped, but it's Bethany's brand of magic, you're still good for a short time." robin encouraged.

"No she's not. One more hit like that and Cheron's got this in the bag." Rotom said quietly enough so only myself and Robin hurd him.

"We've got her now. End this battle!" cheron commanded.

Patrat tried to attack Sarah, but she jumped straight up into the air shouting "Hope?" as she did so.

"In testing." I replied without thinking.

The news must have given Sarah even more determination to win the battle, because she tried; really really hard; to attack Patrat this time.

"Go!" Cheron commanded.

Both Pokémon hit each other head on and fell to the ground.

As Patrat got to its feet, Sarah moaned and got to hers as well.

"Careful sarah!" Robin, Rotom Liz and I all shouted.

sarah put all her energy into one last mighty attack that combined her physical and water attacks into one.

Patrat did the same, and both Pokémon were sent to the bog; flor.

we all screamed Sarah's name; fearing the worst.

She surfaced, spit out mud, but didn't get to her feet.

Patrat; on the other hand; did.

"Battle over. Sarah is unable to battle. therefor I hereby declare Cheron" the judge stopped as patrat let out a; really high; weezy squeak and fell into the bog; not to rise for some time.

"both Pokémon are unable to continue. Therefor I declare this match a draw!" the judge announced.

Sarah got weakly to her feet moaning, "At least it's not a loss."

Liz lifted Sarah out of the bog with her powers, cleaned sarah off, appeared to heal her, then dropped her into my arms.

"I'll take a gym loss over the loss of a friend any day." I said; holding her to me.

Liz gave Cheron's Patrat the same cleaning and healing before he returned his pokémon to its ball.

"Good match! And sportsmanship." cheron complimented.

He then vanished into a building on the other side of the gym.

sarah tried to say something else, but fell asleep in my arms instead.'

"She's warn out. Let's get out of here." I said as Crystal showed up.

"You get enough data?" I asked Crystal.

"I did, but that's secondary at the moment." She replied.

"I know. Did you get Hope's testing started?" I asked.

"Yes, and not just the paperwork either." crystal answered with just the tinyest bit of pride in her voice.

"So how long until she's done?" Robin asked as he directed me toward a path that surrounded the gym's battle area.

Hope chose that moment to ender the gym and head for the same path I was headed toward.

"That didn't take long." she said in a happy voice.

"I didn't think it would given your limited move set." Crystal said as Hope took Sarah from me.

My hands once again free, I began using my cane.

"Where are we headed anyway?" I asked.

"Out the gym's back exit." Robin explained.

"And you know this how?" I asked as we reached said exit.

"Cheron told me during a commercial brake when the cameras whern't roling." Robin said just as we entered a rather small room.

"Ah good." cheron said as he slapped something on my shirt.

"That's a temp gym badge for your Piplup's bravery and the extenuating circumstances with Hope. How is, are you anyway?" cheron asked.

"I'm quite fine, thank you." Hope replied in kind.

"Glad to hear that. Anyway that temp badge will act like a regular gym badge for one hundred hours from now, so you have that long to earn another one." Cheron explained.

"What about the effect of this gym's badge?" I asked; refering to the badge's in-game functions that let trainers control traded Pokemon and use moves outside of battle.

"Oh. We dropped that system at the same time we destroied the obedience badges, and that was years ago." Cheron laughed.

"So it's just the number of badges now?" I asked as we exited the first small room and entered another larger room where; surprisingly; Crystal's car was waiting.

"You got it." Cheron confirmed as he headed for yet another door; this one off to the side.

"Good luck." He said as he left us.

His hurried departure wasn't an issue for me, as I knew he had to make it to the PWT.

My issue; at the moment; was how Sarah felt about the results of today's battle, and how she'd deal with the fact that; at least in her eyes; she'd faild us all.

"Hope was another worrie, as she'd somehow gone from a cute pink fluffy little puffball with strange healing powers to a furry rounded human-like creature with strange healing powers and who knew what else.

Crystal held the car door for Hope as she got in the front seat, then gently placed sarah in Hope's lap.

"Liz?" I asked.

"Yes dear?" Liz answered in kind.

"I know you've always liked to be near me, but can I sit with Hope for a change?" I asked.

"Sit with who you want." Liz laughed as she got in the back and proceeded to hold the door for robin and Rotom.

"Rotom sat himself in Liz's lap without delay, but as Robin made to approach the car, I stuck out my hand and caught his wing.

"Hay. That was a vary brave thing you did today." I said quietly as I moved to feel his face.

"I should have asked you first though." robin said in a vary soft voice.

I felt that his head was down, and raised it so we were looking at each other.

"You couldn't have, seeing as I was elsewhere." I explained.

"Besides that, it was either you step in, or we all forfit the match." I said.

"But if a trainer has to have someone step in for him, that other person should be able to act on the trainer's behalf and make the same choices as the trainer." robin explained before blowing out a soft breath.

"And, I can't really say I did that." he finished.

Crystal had been ready to get behind the wheel, but she changed course and came to stand next to us.

"Robin, I didn't see all the prepping and planning you did with him, but from where I stand, you acted on Michael's behalf as closely as anyone could in that situation." she said.

"We never talked about turning the gym into a bog." robin countered.

"but I would have done it." I said as I gave him a hug; knowing he couldn't return it.

"So, stop beating yourself up and except my thanks." I said as I playfully ruffled his head plumage.

"Besides, your bravery is bound to score you some points with Feara." I joked.

This, mannaged to make robin make a sound that was most likely the Pidgeot equivalent of a snicker.

"Okay, feara asks me out, and I'll drop my arguments regarding my behavior at the gym today." Robin said as he climbed in next to Liz.

"deal." I agreed as two things happend.

The most unremarkable of them was that crystal moved away from us to continue her previous task.

The remarkable one; on the other hand; was that sarah chose that moment to wake up and start dancing on Hope's lap.

"We did it, we did it." she sang.

"Did it?" crystal asked.

"Yeah we almost wun!" sarah crowed.

"That's one way of looking at it." Hope agreed as we pulled around the building.

I noticed that nobody was coming after us; screaming for interviews or anything reporter-like.

Crystal must have seen something in my face, because she said, "No person should have to deal with 'other people' digging into their losses."

I didn't know if their was some rule that forbade reporters from questioning challengers after a loss or if Crystal had done something, but I was greatful all the same.

"That's good, because when we get to your place, we need to start putting together a plan for Roxie's gym." I said."

"Already?" Sarah complained.

"Today was, not in anyones favor, but as long as Hope's okay with her, situation, we need to start focusing on how to deal with Roxie and her Pokémon tomorrow." I explained.

"I'm fine with my situation as you put it, especially as it could have been much worse, but we need to see what really happend in my absence before we start making plans." Hope said.

"No we don't. roxie's gym is like other gyms, in-doors and concrete instead of dirt." Rotom supplied.

"What else you got on her?" Robin asked.

I couldn't help that Robin and Rotom were seeming to get along really well despite only being around each other less than a day.

"Two questions." rotom prefaced.

"Michael? Out of the Pokémon you have on your team, Liz and Trey excluded, what Pokémon can stand up to both Poison and, vary loud music?"

"Loud music?" I asked; perplexed by the combination.

"Rock band leader. As well as gym leader." Rotom replied.

That automatically took Christina out of the running; as her ears were more sensitive to loud rock music than anyone elses; myself included.

"How many Pokémon?" I asked.

"Three, but she'll most likely only use two." was Rotom's response.

"Okay just like today." I said.

"Can I fight?" Sarah asked.

"I was kind of wanting you to." I said.

"Why's that?" Crystal asked.

"Two reasons. First, I'd like her to have another chance to help us out, given what happened today. secondly, and I'm really hoping this doesn't come off the wrong way, but she's got the potential to become part steal type upon evolution."

Sarah took a breath as if to say something, but I continued anyway.

"Now I realise you don't want to evolve, and that's fine. I wasn't planning on making you, but seeing as you can become part steal type, I'm thinking that might make you more resistant to poison, as steal types nullify it." I finished.

"Your logic is well founded, but it's still Sarah's decision." crystal said.

"I'll do it! But exactly how and with whom..." Sarah said.

"we'll deal with that a little later." I said before turning to speak to my friends in the back.

"I still haven't thanked you three properly." I began.

"don't worry about it. We know you meant to." Liz said.

"I know you know that, but do the others?" I challenged.

"Sure we do." rotom piped up.

I decided; then and their; that I was going to find time to get to know all these people; um, Pokémon; I'd found myself in the company of.

In my mind I knew they were technically animals, but so was I when you got down to it, so the term Pokémon never entered my mind when I thought of them.

"When this hole time crunch situation is over, I need to make time to figure you all out." I said.

"You'll have it." everyone except crystal said.

She did make to speak some time later.

"I'm sure Christina will have lots to say about me, so You can feel free to ask her anything you want about me." she said.

"Can't I get to know you tonight and tomorrow?" I asked.

"You can try tonight, however I feel the need to point out that tomorrow I have to catch up on my work load, so Bella will be accompanying you to Virbank." crystal informed me.

I considered Crystal's words, then said, "Hay Rotom? what Pokémon are between Aspertia and Virbank?"

He rattled off a list that was vary unremarkable.

"So you won't mind if Bella takes the car?" I asked crystal.

"It'd be best if she does. Not many people know she can drive, so they'll think I've gone out again." crystal explained.

"No visiters." Liz asked.

"Correct." crystal confirmed.

"Wait we aren't walking?" Sarah asked.

"Virbank's a big place, so you'll still be doing some walking, and if you want to fight some wild Pokémon, that can be aranged." Robin replied.

"You've been there before?" Hope asked.

"Yes I have. Actually my previous master lives there."

"We aren't going to have any problems are we?" I asked.

"No, He gave me up willingly after all." Robin explained.

Just then, we arived back at crystal's, and as she made to disembark, my door was yanked open and Bethany flew into the car shouting, "Sarah are you okay? Did my potion help?"

As Sarah asured Bethany of the facts that the potion did help and that all was well, bella held her hand out to me.

Just then, Liz climbed out laughing, "I believe that's my role." in bella's direction.

"I understand Liz, but just this once, may I?" bella asked.

"I don't mind." Liz replied as Rotom regained his place on my shoulder.

"Actually it should be me helping the two of you out, seeing as I'm the gentalman in this arangement." I said.

"We aren't dating!" Liz laughed.

"Oh, then I could step in?" bella asked in a joking manner.

"No he's still mine." Liz replied in the same manner.

Robin extricated himself from the car only to be 'attacked' by feara who said something terse before flying off.

Robin let out a breath as chris said. "Speaking of dates, someone's got one."

"It would appear so young man." Robin replied as everyone else headed for the house.

bella helped me out of the car and was about to close the door when Robin put a wing on my shoulder.

"can you hold off on the strategy meeting for a few? I need to give feara an honest reply." he explained.

"Good luck." I said by way of an answer.

As Robin flew off in his own way, Bella took my hand again but held me back to let the others pass.

"Hay Liz? I think Bella wants to talk to me, so can you give us a few?" I asked.

"See you inside, but don't take to long okay?" Liz said before entering Crystal's house with the others.

bella surprised me by getting back into the car and sliding over to make room for me.

I had no idea what this was about, but I senced that she wanted some form of privacy; not from my friends so much as the outside world.

So I got in the car and closed the door.

No sooner had I done so then Bella said; without any sort of preamble, "Hope's scared of herself."

"I don't doubt it, given what she's just gone through, but what gives you the right to say such things." I replied.

Bella took her time answering.

"All right, this is probably not going to come across the way I mean it to, but I can sence fear in other beings." Bella finally said.

I thought about what she'd said and deduced that it was probably one of her 'powers' given to her to help point out her targets after she'd scared them in to fleeing her sight.

I said as much, and could tell by bella's rather noisy intake of breath that I'd guessed correctly.

Bella suddenly move to take me in her arms and hug me.

"Noone's ever understood me like you do." she said.

Just then, Hope opened the door and slid behind the wheel.

"And what might you two love birds be doing out here when their's work to be done inside?" she asked.

"Being concerned about you, and forming a bond with a new friend at the same time." I replied.

Hope tried mesing around with a few controls before sighing.

"You need the keys to listen to the radio." Bella said helpfully.

"I don't want to listen to it, but it could keep little ears from hearing us talking about private things they shouldn't." Hope explained.

"You think Christina might rat us out?" I asked.

"I doubt it, but for the right reasons, I think she might. My biggest concern is what she'd say to Sarah and how she'd interpret things." Hope replied.

"That's not a problem!" Rotom exclaimed.

He never moved from my shoulder, but the air suddenly gained an otherworldly quality to it.

"Their. Now no ears can hear us without the owner of said ears braking out in goosebumps and passing out for a few minutes." Rotom explained.

I thanked Rotom for his; effect, then turned my head back in Hope's direction again.

"Bella was just telling me about how afraid you are." I said.

Bella was still hugging me and showed no signs of letting go any time soon.

"I can deal with what has befallen me just fine, however I've become increasingly concerned about sarah." Hope admitted.

"How so?" I asked.

"She's hell-bent on following me any and everywhere I go, even onto that ship where my healing powers may not always be successful." Hope explained.

I wasn't sure how to respond. On one hand, I knew that the friendship Hope and Sarah had was one of those that could transcend almost anything life could throw at it, but on the other hand, I knew that at its current stage anything could just as easily shatter it into oblivion.

"You're worried about what seeing death will do to her, aren't you." Bella asked.

"That's right, but she doesn't understand death the way I do." Hope explained.

"I could talk to her, being one who's seen plenty of it, and unfortunately caused lots of it to." bella offered in a vary soft voice.

"I doubt it'd do any good. If she's like most kids, she probably only conceives death as something that happens to old people." I explained.

Hope sighed. "No that's not it. she's convinced herself that nothing bad can happen as long as i'm there to make it all better." she finished.

Bella let go of me at that point, but I staied in the same position, as I could use it to demonstrate something.

I reached up and cupped Bella's 'face' in my hands.

"Back when we first met, were you doing this in order to check if your powers could fix my blindness?" I asked.

"More or less." Hope confirmed.

"Could you do it again?" Bella asked; taking my hands off her face and turning me to sort of face Hope at the same time.

"Sure but why?" Hope asked, though she made to reach for my face at the same time.

This time, she actually did cup my entire face in her hand; given that she could now that her hands were bigger.

"Wow." she said softly.

"What!" all three of us asked.

"My powers..." Hope said.

"Can you fix him now?" Rotom asked excitedly.

"Still no, sorry, but my powers have more than doubled in strength." Hope explained.

She took her hands off my face and turned back to face front as I did the same.

"Was Sarah their when you first tried this?" Bella asked.

"Yes she was, but... Oh. You want me to use that as an example of my powers not working and try to get Sarah to understand that I'm not some kind of super Clefairy right?" Hope asked.

"That's correct." Bella confirmed.

"We have to be vary careful about how we do this. If she's made her mind up, even after we explain things to her, all of us are just going to have to except that this is her chosen path and help her through the rough spots as best we can." I explained.

Hope took, a long time, to process that information, but she finally sighed her exceptence before opening the door and disembarking.

The rest of us followed her lead, and Hope offered me her arm; which I took.

"I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but Michael's right. All we can do is try to help Sarah understand what she's getting into and let her make an informed choice." Bella said as we made our way to Crystal's front door.

"Like you did?" Hope challenged.

"Yes." bella replied, but didn't add anything else.

We were just about to enter the house when Liz opened the door for us.

"Ah their you are. Sarah's chomping at the bit to get the strategy meating started." she said.

I could hear Sarah in the other room talking excitedly, but about what, I could only guess.

Liz closed the door as we entered and proceeded to lead us toward sarah's voice, but as she did, Hope let go of my arm, stepped in front of me, grabbed my hands, put them on her face, and pantomimed speaking to someone, then took my hands off her face, took my left in her right and proceeded to run one of her fingers in a circle around my palm.

I guessed that she was telling me that she'd talk to Sarah later, but didn't say anything out loud.

Liz doubled back, took one of my hands, put it on her head and nodded before leading us all the way into the next room where the battle meating was to take place.

To my surprise, crystal was their along with Christina, sarah and Chris.

I chose to sit next to Chrystal this time, and she gladly guided me to the proper chair with verbal cues as Bella took a seat next to Liz.

Rotom leaped off my shoulder but decided to; somehow; float directly in the middle of the table we were all sitting at.

"All right." he began before the front door opened again and robin soon graced us with his presence; taking the seat directly across from me.

Before Rotom could begin again, Crystal cleared her throat.

"We had a bit of a bad day, but we all learned stuff in the process so it's time to move on. Rotom? I presume you've already obtained the stats on Roxie?" Crystal asked; at the same time handing me what looked like a wireless braille display.

"You better believe it." rotom afirmed.

At almost the same time, information about Roxie's team appeared on my braille display.

"What do you make of that?" Crystal asked in my direction.

"after looking the information over, I knew the first member of my team for tomorrow.

"Sarah? You're still wanting another chance to help out right?" I asked.

"Sure I am, but am I going to have to fly again?" Sarah asked.

"Koffing is the only one of roxie's Pokémon that can float, but I don't think it'll be as bad as Pidove's flying, so you should be okay." I explained.

"And how do you know you're actually going to be dealing with Koffing in the first place?" Crystal asked.

"Oh that's easy. according to the stats that rotom has provided, Koffing has a history of using an Oran Berry, and given how frale poison types can be, it makes since that Roxie would use items to bolster the health of the Pokémon she's going to use." I explained.

"Liz made an impressed sound, but didn't say more than that.

Chris made to speak next.

"What are you baseing your strenth judgements on anyway?"

"all I have at the moment are my game experiences, but with the right team, poison types can be bested quite easily." I explained.

As I was speaking, a thought crossed my mind.

"Come to think of it, Sarah, have you ever been hit with either poison-based or explosion attacks before?"

"No I haven't. Why would you ask such a question anyway." sarah asked.

"because Koffing have the anoying habbits of poisoning opponents as well as exploding." I replied.

"Not unless they have either attacks that cause the poison status and or explosion or Self Destruct attacks, and this Koffing only has attacks that cause poisoning." Rotom chimed in.

"Okay that's helpful, but we need to know Roxie's special move to." Hope said.

"It's Venoshock." Rotom said matter-of-factly.

"For that to work effectively, roxie needs a reliable way to inflict her challenger's Pokémon with the poisoned status." I explained.

"She's got that covered all right. Koffing and Grimer have Poison Gas, and Whirlipede's got both Poison Sting and Poison Tail." Rotom said; just a little to cheerfully for my taste.

All this information was on my braille display, but I also knew that the others didn't have access to this info, so I let Rotom have the honor of keeping the others, well, informed.

"Poison poison poison. I hope I don't swallow any of it." sarah said, but she was only half joking.

bella actually laughed. "Take it from one who's tasted poison before. You won't have any problem spitting that vial stuff right out."

"Though I do wonder if bethany's got some kind of medison that can help heal poison. I have a few antidotes, but she might have something better." I said.

"I do." Bethany piped up from Crystal's lap, and; while hiding my surprise that she was their; turned toward her and asked if she had any ready to give out.

"We'll have to make some, but it shouldn't take to long." bella said.

"A few hours?" I asked.

"Most likely, why?" bethany asked.

"because I think we need to train some so I can figure out who best to use against roxie." I explained.

Twenty or so minutes later found all of us; Bella and Bethany included; heading through Floccesy town so my Pokémon and I could train against the wild Pokémon that lived at a ranch just north of there while bethany procured the extra baries she'd need to make her special antidotes from said ranch.

"We should start seeing them any time now." Crystal said just as something ran past us.

Before I could ask what it was, robin had taken flight in pursuit of the creature.

"That Sunflora looked like it was carying some kind of bag." Rotom said just as Robin made contact with; his beak I guess, but the Sunflora made no sound.

Robin deposited the bag at my feet saying, "Looks like he's trying to steal some baries." before flying off again.

"He better not be taking my antidote baries." bethany said.

Bella pulled the bag open, and Bethany screamed, "So much disrespect for natures gifts!"

At about that point, a man came running up to us just as Robin came flying back and deposited something at my feet.

"One sunflora sir." robin said as he landed.

"It's about time someone caught that little thief." the man; probably the owner of the ranch; said.

"This Sunflora stealing all your fruit?" I asked.

"That's correct young man." the farmer confirmed before introducing himself as Henry.

bethany was done inspecting the bag and had Crystal give it back to Henry.

"Looks like you can salvage most if not all that's in their." bethany said.

At that time, a creature ran up behind Henry and cooed softly.

"Yes Ampharos, this young man and his Pokémon just recovered the stolen baries for us." Henry said to the creature as he handed ampharos the bag.

"You go ahead and take that back. I'll catch up shortly."

And with that, ampharos departed back the way it had come.

"can you take care of this Sunflora thief?" Henry asked me.

I pulled a Poké ball off my belt and made like I was going to throw it.

The Sunflora got vary angry at this and started to, kind of scream slash growl.

"I'll take that as a yes." Henry said before following Ampharos; shouting a heart-felt thank you over his shoulder.

"You're actually going to attempt a capture?" Liz asked; tapping the Poké ball in my hand.

"Well I am a Pokémon trainer after all." I said somewhat smugly.

"Crystal?" I asked.

"No I'm not battling that thing." she replied finitely.

"I know. I was just wondering if I could use Hope, or if I was still stuck with sarah for this battle." I clarified.

I could tell that Hope, Robin, Bella and Crystal had moved to form a kind of make-shift wall to keep the wild Sunflora from fleeing.

"The league hasn't sent either me or Crystal any kind of e-mail saying that hope's qualified to battle yet." Rotom said.

"Crystal or I." Robin and I corrected.

"Right. So who's battling?" Rotom asked.

"sarah? I know you're at a type disadvantage in this battle, but would you like to battle this Sunflora anyway?" I asked gently.

Sarah was so glad to battle again that she almost ran at the Sunflora before stopping short and reversing course slightly.

Unfortunately she didn't reverse cource fast enough, because the Sunflora still mannaged to land a Grass Knot attack.

I only knew this because sarah tripped on whatever Sunflora had used to attack her.

As sarah got to her feet, the Sunflora used Mega Drain.

I never thought to wonder how this attack worked in the games, but apparently it involved; in this case; the Sunflora attaching its leaves to Sarah and; somehow; draining her energy away.

"I'm getting weeker." Sarah said in a combination of confusion and surprise.

Sunflora laughed at that point before seeming to launch something out of her; um, person; directly at Sarah.

"Look out!" bethany screamed.

Sarah almost moved out of the way, but still got hit with; whatever that thing was.

sarah gained her footing quickly, but then began to cough violently.

"She's poisoned." Bella and Rotom said together.

"sludge bomb maybe? But how?" I asked; not understanding how something so week to poison attacks could actually use one without herting itself.

"I need" I began, but rotom shoved a bottle into my hands saying, "Here!" before jumping onto my shoulder.

"sarah!" I called.

She gave me a cue, and I tossed the antidote in her direction; knowing she'd have no problem using it.

I was correct, and once healed, I told Sarah to try and get in close enough to use her peck on the Sunflora.

Sarah did as instructed, but didn't even make it half way to her target before the Sunflora attacked again.

It didn't matter what attack was used, because Sarah mannaged to move around it.

"Good job! Don't worry about defeating Sunflora, just weeken it so I can throw this." I said as I held up the Poké ball.

Sarah finally mannaged to get into attack range, but the sunflora got its leaves around sarah and started draining her life away.

I reached for Sarah's Poké ball; thinking to return her and let the Sunflora go so as not to wrisk losing sarah, but Rotom told me that it wouldn't work unless Sarah was in the open.

Liz started making a noise in her throat, and I knew she was about to unleash an attack that would bring the Sunflora down that would also make me unable to capture it; given the rules this world placed on trainers and how they had to capture Pokémon.

sunflora chose that moment to start, screaming; vary loudly.

I was at a loss for what to do, and I wasn't alone either.

Had Sarah mannaged to do something, or had Liz's attack actually connected even though it wasn't ready yet?

"Now little Piplup! don't waste your chance!" called an unfamiliar voice from behind the sunflora.

And Sarah didn't, though she didn't exactly follow the rules of Pokémon battling either as she used her peck attack to tare her way out of the sunflora's leaves.

The sunflora's screams of pain gave me all the sound info I needed to aim and throw the Poké ball at it.

Sarah came running back to me as the ball landed on the ground.

Rotom must have done a quick scan, because he asured me she was okay as the ball began to shake.

I took sarah into my arms and hugged her; letting her know she done good.

"I wasn't sure where bethany mannaged to keep it, but she handed Sarah a potion which Sarah drank greedilly.

The Poké ball on the ground was still shaking, and I started to wonder how a poké ball worked in this world.

"Where do you keep those?" I asked in bethany's direction.

"bella keeps them, and I just signal her when I need one." Bethany explained.

Just then, the Poké ball on the ground made a lout clicking sound and stopped shaking.

"It's green. Now what?" Robin asked.

"Now I figure out just how to keep that Sunflora from running off." I said as I claimed my vary first 'properly captured' Pokémon.

Rotom took that time to demonstrate his encyclopedic knowledge; of all things Pokémon; by walking me through the process of restricting sunflora's range to about ten square feet from my position at all times.

He also explained that the restriction wheel on the bottom of any Poké ball could keep the Pokémon inside restricted to distances ranging from one foot to several miles depending on several factors from personal preference all the way down to control of a Pokémon's more; shal we say, more animalistic erges.

It could also restrict a Pokémon from using it's attacks, so I set Sunflora's Poké ball to restrict all powder-based attacks, as well as anything spore-based.

Rotom also made vary sure to point out that the setting farthest to the left on the wheel represented a Pokémon's complete freedom, and let them go anywhere they wanted; even across regions, and kept other trainers from being able to capture them, in essence a free pass for life.

I made a mental note of these facts, and decided to check the settings for Sarah and Hope's Poké balls to insure they were allowed maximum freedom at all times until they proved undeserving of the privilege.

"Robin?" I asked.

He was by my side in an instant.

"I need you to stand gard over Sunflora when I release him so we can educate him on his new position, and hopefully, find out why he's been stealing fruit from farmers." I said.

Robin didn't say anything, but I could tell; by how he positioned himself; that he was ready for the task at hand.

Liz also came to stand next to him saying, "Just in case."

so, I nelt down, released sunflora, and let him fume for a minute or so.

After he had time to calm down, I; vary slowly; reached my hand out to touch him.

"Frlora." he said vary slowly.

"Look, I'm a little late to the party, but from where I'm standing, you just tried to steal a lot of fruit from someone who worked vary hard to grow it, and who needs it to make a living. What were your reasons for doing that?" I asked.

I sat all the way down as I was talking so Sunflora could tell that I was trying to be on equal terms with him.

He walked up to me and grabbed my hands with his leaves.

"Frora flora?" he ask before placing something into my palms.

"For me?" I asked as I identified the item as a peach.

"Sun flora sun." he responded in a tone that said "for me. are you stupid?"

Then he took the peach from me and held it up in his leaves.

Suddently I received a small electric shock.

"flor aflor." Sunflora explained.

"You want to protect yourself with natural gift?" I asked; recalling the attack from the games that used baries as both its ammo and attribute determinant.

"You'd need," Bella began before pausing sevel seconds.

"Let's see, Cheri, Occa, Bluck, Watmel, Pecha, Wacan, Wepear, Belue, Aspear, Yache, Pomeg, Ganlon, Iapapa, Colbur, Spelon and Rowap Berries right bethany?" she finally finished.

"vary good Bella! You've been studying huh?" bethany exclaimed.

"Not really, but with as many potions as we make, you kind of just get it down." Bella said modestly.

"That be for fighting off, water, dark, fire and flying types." I said; recalling all the weeknesses grass Pokémon faced in the wild; as well as in trainer battles.

"Vary good. I guess those games did help you out somewhat." Robin said; obviously impressed.

"and all of you can help fill in the gaps so I can make it back home eventually." I replied.

"Sor?" Sunflora asked.

"I'm not from this region, but getting back to the topic at hand, Sunflora, the first thing we need to do is explain your problem to Henry so he'll properly understand your reasons for steeling from him, as well as let him know that I'll be teaching you how to defend yourself on your own using the gifts nature has already bestowed on you so you can then start your own journey if you don't want to stay with me." I responded.

I reached out to the Sunflora, and he took my hand with one of his leaves.

"First things first though, seeing as you're going to be traveling with me for a time at least, what should I call you? I'm Michael, but i'm not sure if you can say that. I'd rather not call you Sunflora, as that's what you are, though I can call you that if you wish. I can also give you a name." I offered.

"Sora." the sunflora said immediately.

"You want to be called Sora?" I confirmed.

Sunflora made a somewhat happy sound; though I suspected that was more for the benefit of my disability than how he actually felt, so; then and there, I had a Sunflora named Sora.

"I guess we can leave our positions now?" Liz asked.

"Looks like it." I said as I raised Sora's Poké ball.

"return?" I asked; checking to see if Sora wanted to stay out with us or in his ball.

He elected to stay in his ball for now, and I chose not to push things just yet.

As I returned his ball to my belt, I got Liz's attention, then thought, (How come I couldn't understand a word Sora said?)

(I have no idea. Maybe because he can speak english, just not to you?) Liz offered.

"What's up?" bella asked.

"don't think for a second I didn't notice you two trading thoughts." She added.

"How can you tell?" I asked; dumfounded.

"Your eyes. They move around in a particular way." Bella confirmed.

So on the way to train at the ranch, Liz and I explained about the strange power that let me sometimes understand Pokémon when they were speaking in they're own language. Rotom also brought up the issue of the mysterious Pokémon that had helped Sarah and I capture sora, and explained that he'd recorded it as a Smoochum that had somehow grown up without evolving into a Jynx.

I thought about asking how that was even possible, but decided that; this being a rather different version of the Pokémon world; anything was possible.

Crystal told us that it was actually a vary famous Smoochum named Maria, who'd erned her fame do to the fact that she'd been the first Pokémon to have a capture attempted on her during evolution.

Rotom let me know that my trainer documentation pointed out that I shouldn't ever try and capture a Pokémon during evolution, as it would most likely have vary devastating consequences on the Pokémon's natural groath cycle.

I put two and two together and surmised that Maria was one of the reasons that rule was put in place.

Crystal asked if I wanted to attempt to find Maria and befriend her, and I told her that it wouldn't be polite of me to return a favor with enslavement.

I did add; however; that if Maria sought me out, I'd thank her for her help and extend an offer of friendship, but that was as far as I was willing to push it.

I then asked Rotom how much damage he'd recorded from Maria, and he told me; in a rather surprised voice; that she'd dealt no dammage at all, just startled Sora long enough for sarah to get in the damage she'd needed for a successful capture.

With that out of the way, I turned my attention to the training regimen I'd use once we reached the ranch.


	8. Chapter 8

Attached

A Pokémon Persona Crossover Fanfiction

by Three Black Noises

Chapter 8

When we arived at the ranch, Crystal; along with Bethany and Bella; retired to the ranch house to make business arangements with Henry, leaving the rest of us to our own devices.

as Crystal and Bella had pointed out earlier, the ranch was full of wild Pokémon willing to battle my Pokémon, so training assistance weren't hard to come by.

sarah battled some eletric types for a time, and seemed to figure out how to tell when the electric attacks were coming.

After that, she fought various other Pokémon and tried to perfect the water attack she'd started learning while fighting Cheron.

The "Ice water" attack; as she'd coined it; never got to a point where she could use it reliably, so she chose instead to fokus on turning it into an Icy Wind.

That actually did work; and a lot faster than either of us thought possible, so we next tried to see if sarah could gain a few new water abilities.

Only one surfaced; as it were, and that was Bubblebeam.

By that I mean a proper Bubblebeam, and not the in-between attack she'd been using up to that point that took forever to launch.

After that, I suggested that she learn some moves to keep her safe in battle as well.

It took liz, Rotom and Sora to teach her protect, but; owing to the fact that we were on a farm with lots of dirt, Sarah mannaged to teach herself Dig without any assistance what-so-ever.

After that, she mannaged to learn Endure without much prodding from anyone except Sora; who proved to be a master at it already, and; after chris helped out with the Endure attack to, I felt; at that point; she was as ready as she was going to be for the match against Roxie.

While all that was going on, I still found time to train; and learn about; my other friends to.

Sora fought some fire types, and I learned that he wasn't afraid of hardly anything; not even fire itself.

I also was able to understand him, now that he was a part of my team.

He wasn't the fastest Pokémon out their, but that had to do more with how he fought than anything else.

I came to learn that sora was one of those Pokémon that executed his attacks in a slow; almost bored kind of way that left his opponents constantly guessing as to not only what attacks he was using, but where and how hard they'd hit when they connected; if they connected at all.

Sora had a pretty good poker face to. By that, I mean he could pretend to mis attacks and get pretty frustrated about it while never under or overplaying it, but once his opponent moved in for the kill, he'd be ready with a nasty surprise of his own like Toxic or Sludge Bomb.

Hope fought an asortment of different pokémon types, and did pretty well against them all, even learning a few new moves like Minimize and Wake-Up Slap in the process.

Robin and I couldn't battle together yet, but rotom was pretty insistent that we try and bond while we had the chance.

Liz was way to strong to battle and gain any kind of experience the ranch Pokémon could offer, but she ddid mannage to provide quite the challenge to Robin, who couldn't fly quite right yet.

I wasn't yet skilled enough in the ways of flight to give proper commands to Robin, but Liz and; surprisingly; rotom helped me out in that regard.

Half an hour later; about the time Sarah learned Protect, we'd mannaged to get Robin flying pretty well and higher then he'd ever flown in his life; which was to say he was now flying about thirty feet off the ground.

Chris and Christina were doing their own thing with each other, and I checked up on them throughout the day that soon turned into evening.

Christina; while a skilled fighter, was not vary good at aiming her ranged attacks at her opponents, nor was she particularly good at dodging attacks against her; be they ranged or otherwise.

This is where I was able to help by instructing her to first listen for her opponent to make a move before trying to counter it.

I worked with her for some time, perfecting her abillity to ascertain attacks by type and range and either dodge and/or counter in real time.

She was also able to learn some of the techniques sarah knew by copying her after first listening to the things she did; and sometimes said.

Liz helped chris perfect his new electric powers and tought him Shock wave at the same time, while still being able to keep Robin on his toes; as it were.

after some time, I called all my Pokémon back for a brake.

Henry met us at about that time; his business arangements concluded, and dropped a bombshell on us.

In exchange for letting us use his ranch to train for most of the day, he reserved the right to demand payment in the form of; in this case; a 2-on-2 Pokémon battle.

I Saw no point in refusing, especially as I'd just learned lots of new things about all of my Pokémon friends and wanted to try them out before using them against roxie tomorrow.

With Liz and Rotom agreeing to be the judges, an area of the ranch was quickly set aside for the match.

Henry let me know in no unsirtain terms that he wouldn't be holding anything back.

I said the same, and Henry let me know that one of his Pokémon would be his Amphros.

As it came forward; cooing softly as it did, I called out Sora's name.

He took the field without issue, and before I could call out a move, Henry called for Ampharos to use Safeguard.

this wasn't unusual or unexpected in the least.

sora; being of the grass type; was perfectly capable of causeing a varietty of status effects that could really mess with a trainer's battle strategy, and Safeguard; by its vary nature; prevented these status effects from taking place.

I knew that ampharos; being of the electric type; could cause some nasty problems for Sora as well, so I also called for him to use Safeguard; effectively leveling the playingfield.

"Bullet Seed!" I called.

"Bulldoze!" Henry called slightly behind my command.

A ground attack wasn't totally unexpected from a farming Pokémon, but Ampharos using it when he did sort of wrecked Sora's attack, as the Bulldoze attack; much faster than I'd expected; managed to completely uproot Sora from the ground.

While he was airborn, Henry called for a Volt Switch attack that landed right on target.

While that attack let Henry switch out Ampharos for whatever was his second Pokémon, it also did way more damage to Sora than it should have.

"Sora's not grounded!" Christina said vary quickly.

As much as I hated to admit it, Christina's remark made sence.

As a grass type, Sora most likely defused any and all electric energy into the soyal he was standing in; reducing its effect on him.

While airborn, Sora lost that advantage, and took regular damage from Ampharos' attack.

Sora did slamb into the ground; kind of hard; a few seconds later, and I could hear him defusing the remaining electric energy into the soyal as I'd suspected he would.

Henry; meanwhile; was already calling out his second Pokémon.

"Fletch Fletch, Fletchinder!" it called.

"Fletch what? Rotom!" I called.

"It's not in my database, working..." Rotom responded in a frantically calm way.

"It's some kind of fire bird thing." Liz explained.

"Wel in that case, christina?" I called.

"Um, yes?" she responded; obviously caught off gard.

"You 'wunna go a few rounds with this, Fletchinder?" I asked.

"Huh? You don't 'wunna use me?" Sarah asked.

"It's true you are a water type, but Christina has an ability that makes her just slightly better for this particular battle." I explained.

"Kind of like how I might be better against poison types?" Sarah asked.

"Not exactly, but you're in the ballpark at any rate." I replied.

"My thick fat?" christina asked.

"That's right, It'll help reduce the damage from all that fire that's bound to be coming your way." I afirmed.

So christina took the field while Sarah, kind of sulked.

Hope took Sarah in her arms and started talking to her, but I couldn't listen as I had to figure out how to use Christina's abillities to win against the Fletchinder.

Rotom took that time to float down onto my shoulder and whisper vary quickly into my ear what he'd found on the Fletchinder, and it wasn't much.

It was enough however, and I quickly came up with a strategy for Christina.

The time it took all this to transpire unfortunately gave Henry the first move against her, and it was a U-turn attack.

Christina dodged it easily enough, but my worry was what would happen next, as I knew that the U-turn attack gave Henry the ability to switch out Fletchinder for Ampharos.

He did just that, and Crystal responded with a, "Really?" in an exasperated way that let me know she wasn't happy with the arangement.

"Don't worry Mom I got this." Christina said confidently.

Henry called for an Electro Ball next, and Christina dodged it without my having to command her to do so.

That was kind of a good thing, as I was using the braille display I'd received from Chrystal to read up on Christina's moves; courtesy of rotom.

It turned out; however; that the strategy I'd cooked up for Christina wouldn't work, as her current move set was largely based around the idea of a direct physical asalt.

Given her, inconvenience, it was easy to understand why she'd opted for this strategy, as it assured she'd always be in direct contact with her opponent and less likely to miss connecting with a move.

Henry called for a swift attack just then, and I told Christina to get in close to Ampharos, as I knew that a swift attack never missed its target.

She began moving in, uttering a soft "dam it!" as the swift attack connected.

Henry ordered his Pokémon to "Switch to hand-to-hand tactics," and I inwardly celebrated, as he couldn't use many electric attacks in that mode except maybe a thunder punch or two.

Needless to say it didn't take long for the battle to degenerate into an all-out brawl of punches and kicks that I found vary hard to follow.

It seemed to be pretty even until Ampharos decided to use a DynamicPunch, and extremely powerful punch that left its target vary confused and disorientated for a short time.

christina used the same move; almost at the exact same time, so both Pokémon were out of it.

I chose that time to call Christina back for a breather, but as she stumbled toward me, Ampharos snapped out of his stupor in time to send a shockwave her way.

that move almost never missed, and Christina tried her best to dodge it, but she took a direct hit and fell to the ground moaning.

"That's it! Christina is unable to battle." Liz called.

It took about three seconds for Crystal to scoop up Christina and carry her off the battlefield.

sora was already next to me asking if he was going in next.

"It's not like we have a choice." I responded.

I could hear Crystal and Bella comforting Christina as Sora took the field.

Henry called for a Fire Punch from Ampharos, and Sora took it head on without bursting into flames.

"Ahah! Strong against that kind of fire huh? ampharos, Volt Switch!" Henry called.

"stop that attack!" I called, but sora was already on it.

He almost succeeded to, but Ampharos was just to fast.

As Fletchinder took the field once more, I knew we were outmached.

"Come on Fletchinder this is an easy one. Just keep using Flamethrower on that sunflora." Henry commanded.

sora kept out of the way of the fire easily enough, but I knew that we weren't going to win if we just evaded.

"sora can you seed that thing?" I asked.

"What?" Sora asked; clearly confused.

"Can you use Leech seed on Fletchinder." I clarified.

"what's that?" Sora asked as he nearly took a direct hit from fletchinder.

"Oh come on! I can't believe we're having this conversation! Even I can use Leech seed!" bethany called.

"Well I can't." Sora countered.

"That's impossible because it's in your move list." Rotom and I said at the same time.

"I've never used that move in my life!" Sora yelled as he almost took another hit.

"Yes you have or it wouldn't be on your list of known moves!" rotom yelled; clearly exasperated.

Suddenly I heard Bella walk onto the battlefield.

Henry called off his Fletchinder, but not before one of its Flamethrower attacks scored a direct hit on Bella with a low; kind of rock-like; grating screeching sound.

Bella took no notice and simply scooped up Sora in her arms before sitting down on the spot.

"Sorry for this." she said to him before using some kind of ability that put him to sleep.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Is it a wipe?" Bethany asked.

"I thought I got wrid of the last of them when we met, but apparently I was mistaken." Bella answered.

"What's" I began, but Liz answered.

"Someone tried to remove some of Sora's memories using a psychic Pokémon."

"It might have been me. I don't remember wiping a Sunflora, but I might be able to recover the lost memories with my psychic powers." bella added.

"You have psychic powers." I said skeptically.

"I have a lot of powers, though all the really bad ones have been removed." Bella responded as the air filled with a strange, well, presence is the best way I can describe how her psychic powers felt.

After a time, Bella made an angry sound before the powers went away.

"It's no good. I didn't do this wipe, but I can't remove it either." she explained.

"Mind if I try?" Liz offered.

Bella didn't seem to mind, so Liz gently took Sora in her arms and used her; much better-feeling; powers.

"Oh man, this gos, deep." Liz said softly before giving up as wel.

"A higher power than ours will have to undo this. If any one of us gos in any deeper than this, the damage to sora could be, vary bad." Bella explained.

"What?" Liz asked after a pause.

"We might be able to arange that, if Henry will give us leave." bella said.

"If it'll help sora out then yes. However before you go, Ampharos if you would?" Henry replied.

The sound of a ringing bell filled the air, and everyone seemed to feel better.

"Heal bell?" I asked.

"Yep, you and your team have a long way to go before you can defeat Ampharos and I." Henry supplied.

"It would seem that way, though I feel the need to thank you for the battle anyway even if it was our payment for using your ranch." I said.

"You're vary welcome. Now get sora's memories back. That's an order." Henry said in a half joking way.

Bella and Crystal didn't take it in the way he'd intended, and I suddenly had a bad feeling about their arangement with a 'higher power'.

The walk back to Crystal's passed quickly, though that was mainly due to the fact that Bella; whom I chose to walk with; had much longer strides than anyone else.

"I'd ask you to slow down, but we both know that's not going to happen." Crystal called in a half joking way as Bella and I got ahead of the group.

I was impressed that Bella could keep up this pace while holding Sora in one arm and using the other to guide me.

Rotom didn't have any objections to me making other friends, and I could tell that; even though he'd never admit it, he was impressed with Bella as well; even going as far as riding on her head instead of mine.

So it was in this way that bella and I arived back at Crystal's before anyone else.

I thought she'd wait outside for the others, but she produced keys from somewhere and let us both in to the house; pulling a note off the door as we entered.

"Ah, the deconstruction on the rouf got done while we were gone." Bella said absently as she threw the note in the trash.

"The rouf?" I asked.

"Yeah they had to remove the dish from up there." Bella answered as she lead me to Crystal's office.

"Did you ever wonder why everybody's so okay with crystal being a computer geek?" Bella asked as she closed and locked the door.

"I did, but I didn't want to push her away with to many personal questions right off the bat." I replied as Bella set sora down on a table.

"Suffice it to say, it's just her cover, but she is really good at it, and might have just taken it up full time for real if we didn't have a more important thing to do." bella added.

"Such as?" Rotom asked.

Bella sat me down in a chair and stood over me; facing me.

"Crystal briefed Bethany and I about your situation before going to pick you up." she began as she bent down to; possibly; look me in the eyes.

"What do the Pokémon games of your world say about gym badges?" she asked.

"Not much, actually. They're more of a kind of progress indicater than anything else. They give the player access to field moves like Fly and Surfe, and they control the level traded Pokémon need to be to obey the player's commands." I explained.

Bella, tried, to lower her voice when she next spoke, but; needless to say; she wasn't successful.

"That first part made no sence to me, but what we really do is keep safe the remaining gym badges that can still control Pokémon against their will." she explained.

"Well field moves just mean, wait! You have gym badges here?" I asked.

bella stood up, walked over to, and knocked on some kind of metal safe.

"We have two left, an earth and a bolder badge in here." she explained.

"You want me to use one of those to force Sora to remember his past?" I asked.

"He's got an implanted desire not to remember it. It might be possible to have Liz or myself go in and override that, but I have no idea at what cost that'd be to Sora." Bella explained just as the others got home.

"How much longer will he be out?" I asked.

"Maybe ten minutes, give or take." Bella answered as crystal opened the door and brought everyone else in with her.

"So what's up?" Hope asked after Crystal locked the door.

I'd had a few suspicions about Crystal, and they were all confirmed in the next few minutes.

Her computer impire was supposed to be a sham cooked up by some people within the government as a cover while her and Bella quietly drained the remaining old gym badges of their power to control Pokémon.

At the same time, the truth about Bella's previous deeds would be covered up so she could attempt to start a new life.

All went well until Crystal actually got vary good at her fake job and really made a name for herself.

Bella and Bethany started up their apothecary soon after, and before long, Crystal had a few new friends who also had a legitimate business on their hands.

Aside from the business, Bella also became a role model for struggling people everywhere, as she was living prouf that, "No matter what hole you've dug yourself out of, you can still rise to greatness with a little hard work and conviction."

Sora came around about the same time Crystal and Bella got done with all the explanations, And I took it upon myself to brief him on the situation.

"So you want to use a gym badge to make me want to remember my past." Sora confirmed.

"It's a win win situation. Even if you can't remember your past, we're no worse off than before we started, and the world still has one, maybe even two, less Pokémon-controling gym badges to deal with." I explained.

"Heck, I'm down with that." Sora replied excitedly.

"Bella and Crystal had remained respectfully silent while Sora and I talked, but they went into action as soon as Sora had made up his mind.

Bella started readying some kind of machine while Crystal brought up some kind of app on her PC.

"What's that do?" Hope asked.

"It blocks the tracking signal that badges send out." Bella said quickly.

"I might be able to help with that." Rotom offered.

"How so?" Chris asked.

"I can mess up all kinds of signals." Rotom laughed.

"I can't see why it'd hurt anything to try." Crystal added.

"What are you doing on your computer?" Liz asked.

"This app helps block signals on the technological side of things." Crystal explained just as a phone began to ring.

She answered it, then made a surprised sound before asking, "Why'd they rope you into doing this?"

Their was a long reply from the other end before Crystal spoke again.

"They really shouldn't have, though a recent development might just save you and I from having to do this job ever again. can I put you on video?"

The caller didn't seem to mind, as crystal pressed a few controls on her PC before the person could be heard by all in the room.

"Wow you don't look a thing like your photo." Crystal said quietly.

"Oh yeah, that was taken when I was twelve, and even though I've updated it, certain people want to insure I'll always be known as 'little Ash Ketchum.'" the caller replied with some disdain in his voice.

"That's not fair to you at all!" Hope said.

"Let's just say being a Pokémon master isn't all it's cracked up to be, dam sure not what they told me as a child. At this point they should just slap a PHD onto my name and move me in with Sam Oak." Ash said.

Crystal and ash laughed at that remark before Ash cleared his throat.

"So what's this development you were talking about." he asked.

Crystal introduced me to ash; the ash Ketchum from the animé, and after some small talk, Sora was introduced as well.

Crystal briefed ash on her plan, and Sora and I told ash we were okay with it.

He gave the matter a great deal of thought before saying, "The ten-year-old me wouldn't have hesitated to give you the go-ahead for this crazy plan. Have you made all the necessary preparations?"

"I have, and we have a little extra help this time as well." crystal said before introducing Rotom.

"That'll help out a lot." Ash said.

"Pika Pikachu?" a small voice asked from Ash's end of the phone.

"No little buddy I highly doubt he's the Rotom we knew." Ash responded before addressing Crystal again.

"You have clearence to proceed, and don't call me unless something goes wrong okay?" he said.

"Fine by me." crystal agreed before we all said by to the legendary trainer.

"How old is he now?" I asked crystal.

"Somewhere in his late teens." she answered smoothly as Bella finished preparations.

I explained that the Ash Ketchum in my world never seemed to age beyond ten, so it was nice to see this world's version aged normally.

"Okay, we're all good here. everything's green whenever you're ready." Bella said in Crystal's direction.

"Rotom?" Crystal asked.

"I'm good to. Can Liz and Bella help me out to?" He inquired.

"We'd do it anyway, but sure. we'll pitch in." Liz confirmed.

"So, what do I need to do?" I asked.

"That's real simple. when everything is active, I'm going to hand you the earth badge so it recognises you. Once I do, command sora to remember his past." Crystal explained.

"That's it?" I confirmed.

"Real simple huh?" crystal asked.

"What about Chris? Do you think this could work on him to?" I asked.

"It might, but I think we'll use the bolder badge for him. The earth badge represents the biggest threat, so I want to use that one up first." Crystal explained.

I knew that; in the games at least; the final badge a player character received gave them complete control over all Pokémon; traded or otherwise; so Crystal's argument made sence to me.

I indicated I was ready, and Crystal took her place at her PC while Bella placed her hand; claw? on the jammer's activation switch.

Crystal counted down from five, then clicked her mouse.

bella pressed the jammer switch and ran to the safe containing the badges.

She and Crystal worked vary quickly to open the safe and extract them.

"Michael?" Crystal asked.

I held out my hand, and she placed a vary small object into it.

"Liz? Rotom?" Bella asked.

Liz took her place beside Bella, while Rotom floated between them.

"Michael? On three, give the command." Bella said.

She counted to three, "Sora? I command you to remember your past." I said; feeling really bad for what I was about to do to the poor flower Pokémon.

"I don't!" Sora cried.

At that point, the earth badge in my hand got really hot and began emitting a strange high-pitched wining sound that even I was hard-pressed to hear.

As Sora resisted the badges effects, it's wining sound increased in pitch as well as volume, until Sora fell to his knees in front of me.

"I can't!" he cried, and the badge did it's work even more.

Finally, Sora bowed his head almost into my lap.

"Yes master." he drawled.

I made up my mind; then and there; that I'd never make any creature subservient to my will in this fassion ever again; even if it ment living out the rest of my life in this world rather than my own.

The badge in my hand started to screech in a way that made me extremely uncomfortable just before sora started to cry before falling into my lap saying, "Please don't hurt me master!" over and over.

"I'm not going to hurt you." I said quietly.

"Huh? Who are you?" Sora asked before Bella knocked him out with her power from before.

"Liz? Do you know how to do a memory merge using me as a conduit?" she asked.

"I'm already on it." Liz said calmly.

Just then, the badge in my hand, well, died, for lack of a better descriptive adjective.

Crystal took it from me before offering me the other badge.

chris came over to me, and I gently took the badge from Crystal; enjoying the feel of her hand as I did so.

"Chris? I'd like you to try and remember anything about your past you might have lost when you dream walked." I said gently.

"I'm not sure I can." Chris said before the badge heated up; though not as much as the earth badge had done.

It's sound was vary different as well, deeper, and more, primal; somehow.

Chris reacted vary differently than Sora; gasping and getting vary quiet.

the bolder badge didn't take as long to die as the earth badge had.

I feared my efforts would be in vain, but just before the badge died, chris whispered, "Mom's name is Norma." and, "I think she and I are from a place called Ferrum. That's all I can remember. Sorry."

"That's okay. It's more than we had before." I said gently as Crystal took the bolder badge back .

"Well, new information has been gained, and the last of the old badges are dead, so, I'd say that was a pretty good use of my time." she said as she returned the badges back to the safe and locked them away.

Bella shut off the scrambler while crystal shut down her app.

"Liz? How's Sora coming along?" I asked.

"He's coming, but it's a mess in there." she said quietly.

"How long?" bella and I asked together.

"Almost done. Give me a few more minutes okay?" Liz responded.

Crystal made herself busy on her computer as Hope came over to lay a supportive hand on Liz's back.

"Is Sora going to be okay?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. He's going to have a lot of sorting out to do once I'm done here." Liz answered.

"Hay Michael?" Crystal asked.

"What's up." I opened with.

"How do you like Bella and rotom?"

I didn't even have to think about my response.

"They're awsome! Why?"

"Well, I've taken way to much time off to help you out, and us using up those badges just now has put me in a bind." Crystal explained.

"How do you mean?" Chris asked.

"I've been working on a major update to my operating system that's really going to help lots of people out, and maybe, hopefully, give me the edge I need to start doing this full-time. It was supposed to come out in a few days, but I might lose my support as soon as tomorrow morning, so I need to pull an all-nighter to get this done." Crystal explained.

"I'm so sorry." I began.

"don't be. The last few days have been the most enjoyable I've had in a long time." she said before throwing Bella her car keys.

"Just in case I'm still sleeping like the dead when you need to leave. You know, if you're not walking..." crystal said as an afterthought.

"You better be thinking about what you want to eat after that gym battle, because I'm taking you, and not taking no for an answer, unless you lose your match." Bella told me.

"Sounds like fun, but you'd better pick, just in case I have to use all my money on taking care of my Pokémon and can't foot the bill." I said; only half joking.

Just then, sora sighed in his, sleep? trance? whatever he was in.

"Okay. I think, I'm done." Liz said vary quietly.

"But you haven't finished integrating his past and present together." Bella said.

"That's going to be up to him, I'm afraid. All I did was put them in separate compartments, so to speak, so he can do that himself when he wakes." Liz explained as she gathered Sora into her arms.

"With your leave?" liz asked as she headed for the door.

Crystal didn't say anything, but she must have nodded or something, because Liz left along with Bella and all the others.

I started to follow only to be stopped by Crystal giving me a hug.

"In case we don't see each other again, thanks for the last few days. they were wonderful. and, I guess I owe you for saving christina from, mental damage or something, so I'll continue to support you, even if it's just through Rotom." she said.

Crystal never broke the hug during all that, and I didn't see the point in making her; even if it did kind of feel like I was hugging a giant role of sand paper.

"You take care of yourself, Bella and Bethany to." I said quietly.

Crystal released me and sat back down at her Pc to continue working.

After several seconds I turned to let myself out of her office, only to hear her blow out a vary loud breath.

"Not looking forward to that all-nighter huh?" I asked.

"No, but that's not the issue. I don't know why but I feel as if I should do or say something more before you leave." Crystal said; getting up from her work.

"Only problem is, I can't think of anything, and it's bugging me." she continued as she came over to me.

"Is it about Bella?" I asked.

"No." Crystal stood right next to me.

"Bethany?" I asked; placing a hand on her face.

crystal shook her head.

"Yourself?" I asked; placing my other hand on the other side of her face.

again, she shook her head.

"Christina?"

another head shake.

"Chris?"

Crystal blew out another breath before speaking.

"NO, but I'll look into Norma and Ferrum for you."

"The badges?" I asked, running out of things to ask about.

"defanatly not." Crystal said with a confident expression on her face.

"Rotom?"

"No!" Crystal laughed; her face braking into a wide grin.

"Your job?"

"Not really. I've got a few backup plans just in case this falls through. This has something to do with you and your friends specifically."

"You worried about Liz and I?"

"No, seeing as she's not the rash type. If you go deeper into your relationship than casual friends, it'll be with the complete consent of the both of you."

Crystal paused then, and I could tell she was trying to nail down the issue that was bugging her.

Finally, she sighed deeply before making to speak.

"Okay, this is probably going to sound really dum, but would you be okay with having friends that nobody seemed to like?"

I finally seemed to understand her dilemma.

"You're worried about what being misfits will do to me and my reputation, aren't you?" I asked.

"That's it." Crystal replied.

"Like I care! I'm done letting people choose my friends for me." I said with conviction.

Crystal finally broke her hug but didn't move away.

"How are you going to train Christina anyway." she asked.

"We've already worked some of that out. Don't worry, I'll treat her right, no using TMs on her or anything like that. If she learns something, it'll be the old-fassioned way." I said.

"And you'll call me from time to time?" she asked.

"Sure I will. You can take that to the bank." I said before playfully pushing her toward her computer chair.

The rest of the night was spent finalising all the gym plans and battle strategies for the next day.

Sarah still had a burning desire to correct her los from earlier in the day, and I saw no reason to deny her the chance to do so.

I wanted to use Sora, but he was vary angry after waking up; saying that he'd repressed most of his memories for a reason, and I'd forced him to remember vary bad things in his past; all for the sake of being able to battle for me.

I explained my reasons for bringing his memories to the surface, and Liz put in her two sence about why she'd left them separate.

"Why didn't you just reteach me the moves I'd forgotten." Sora drawled.

I didn't have an answer to that question, but Liz had my back.

"Sora, even if we wanted to reteach you your forgotten moves, they're linked to the events that were in progress when you learned them, so you'd still have to face your past, one way or another."

"And even if we were to somehow separate the knowledge from the events, you'd want to find out how and why you'd learned the moves in the first place." Bella; who'd decided to sit in on the proceedings; added.

Sora thought about what he'd just been told, then admited in his drawling voice that we were right.

"At least this way I know about my entire life from the start and won't need to feel bad when I find out that the truth I'd been pursuing wasn't what I wanted it to be." he finished.

"So, how can any of us help now?" I asked.

Sora's reply was almost immediate.

"Finish prepping Sarah for tomorrow while I finish sorting myself out. I'll come find you then and we can talk about what's to be done about the second team member."

With that, Sora took his leave.

After he was gone, Rotom approached me to inform me that Trey had called during my battle with Henry.

I didn't know if it was to late to call him, but I asked Rotom to give it a try anyway.

The conversation with Trey was brief, but informative.

He and Ruby expressed condolences regarding my defeat at the gym today, but also let me know that; for some reason or another; it had actually worked out in my favor, as many people all over the world were rooting for my come-back in the next gym battle; which wasn't going to be televised.

Ruby let me know that the translation went well, and asked me if Trey could stay for just one more day so they could enjoy each other's company during the recording process.

I didn't have any objections, and let both of them know I'd touch base either tomorrow or the next day to decide where to send Trey.

Finalising Sarah for tomorrow's gym battle with Roxie didn't take to long either, as she and I knew what needed to be done.

we did run through all of Sarah's new moves real quick, just to make sure she had them all down.

After that, it was just a matter of waiting on Sora.

I made small talk with the rest of my friends to pass the time, but nothing of major note was discussed.

Sora came up to me during that time and just stood their.

Even after all conversation had died, he still just stood their.

I placed a supportive hand on him to let him know he could speak, and after a long time he did, but not in his drawling voice from earlier.

"Okay. I'll battle for you tomorrow, and we'll see what happens. I can use poison moves, so that should hopefully give me some resistance against any Roxie should use" he made a long unsirtain sound; a kind of sigh/moan combo; before continuing. "If I mess up, please don't be mad, okay?" he finally finished.

"Are you going to give it your best?" I asked.

"Of course I am." Sora replied confidently.

"Then you have nothing to worry about." I assured him.

"Well, okay." Sora said unsirtainly as he moved away from me.

"Relax. All of us are totally on your side if something goes wrong." Hope said.

"My side?" Sora asked.

"It means we'll support you." I said with a small laugh; realising that Sora most likely never had anyone on his side before.

Sora just left us then; a heavy sigh on his lips.

"Great. Now I've made him nervous." I said quietly.

"No, you haven't, but his new position has." Liz explained.

"Of course it has. He just made friends, that's scary enough if you've never had them, but his vary first mission is to win a gym battle! I'd be nervous to." Bella added.

"He's got a point regarding that possible poison resistance." Chris put in.

"I just hope my entire plan isn't based on gambles that might not pay off." I admited.

"They're the only chance we've got." Liz softly told me.

"I know. I just feel like I should have more than that." I confided.

"If we had more time you would." she encouraged.

We passed the remainder of the night practicing a few small things, but mainly just getting to know each other and making more small talk.

My confidence level regarding the coming gym battle did rise substantially throughout the evening, to the point where I was able to tell everyone that we'd most likely be victorious tomorrow.

Everyone else dropped off to sleep as soon as they got into bed, but I; however; was having major doubts as to how well I could really be a good trainer to my new Pokémon friends.

I tossed and turned for several minutes before giving up on sleep for the time being and got out of bed.

I didn't want to wake anyone, so I simply went out into the main living room and sat in one of the; way to nice; chairs to calm my thoughts.

I know I passed out at some point, because I awoke to Bella's claw; hand? on my shoulder.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked in her strange attempt at a whisper.

"Did I fall asleep?" I asked somewhat stupidly.

"Yes, but you were mostly just dozing." she answered as she took up a position directly in front of me.

So, what's up?" she asked.

"Just not sure about a few things." I offered.

"Such as?" Bella prompted; moving vary close to me.

I wasn't bothered by her closeness, in fact it actually bolstered my confidence. She also; for some reason; smelled really good. Maybe she was wearing some kind of perfume?

I reached up to feel her face in order to gage her reaction to what I was about to say.

"I'm just not sure I'm the best trainer for those Pokémon in there." I finally said.

Bella took her time to respond. I couldn't read anything in her face, and her baring didn't give anything away either.

"Not every trainer wins the first gym battle." she finally said.

"That's not it exactly. I feel like I'm not going to be able to bring out all they have to offer." I explained.

"Sure you will, once you get some time with them." bella said; leaning just a little closer.

"Do you think they'll be around that long if I can't guide them to victory at least once?" I asked.

"Of course we will." Robin replied from the bedroom door.

"How long have you been there?" I asked.

"About a minute, and Liz is behind me." Robin answered as Rotom landed on my head.

"You can't speak for everyone." bella said.

"Okay, I will at the vary least speak for myself." Robin corrected.]

"You don't need to ask me, unless you suddently doubt my loyalty. Liz added.

"And are you trying to kis him Bella?" Liz asked as an afterthought.

"No because I'm unable to kis." bella answered.

"Oh, are you jealous Liz?" I teased.

"No I was just curious from a scientific point of view." Liz answered as she made her way over to stand on my left.

"No lips?" Bella indicated; leaning in like she was going to kis me.

"No kissing." she finished as she leaned back to be level with Liz again.

"about the most I could do to show affection would be to blow on his cheak, or hug him, though that last one would run the wrisk of braking his bones." Bella finished.

Rotom chose that time to shreak before speaking normally.

"What are we wasting this valuable time with idle chatter for? You still need to decide on your final team for the match today!"

"We did that last night, or is your memory that short?" I laughed.

"No! the new gym rules went into effect at midnight and Roxie now has the option of turning our two-on-two battle into a three-on-three!" Rotom exclaimed.

"I doubt she'd do that." I said; praying I was right.

"You 'wunna run that wrisk?" Rotom asked.

"No but what choice do we have?" I asked.

"A third team member!" Rotom exclaimed.

"Well you can't battle and neither can Hope so who else is their?" I asked.

"Me, if it were allowed." Bela answered.

"Well it isn't, crystal won't, I don't think, and Bethany..." I let the statement hang in the air.

"Would, if she had any moves that'd be of help to you." Bella finished.

"She does, but not enough power to use them." Rotom pointed out.

"So we're back at square one. Who else is their?" I stated.

Robin made a vary loud sound that could have been anything from a low growl to an extremely disgusted sigh, then said, "I might be able to get Feara to do it if, I go out with her."

"I'd hate to make you do that unless you actually wanted to." I admited.

"I just wanted to help her speak better, but somehow between that and how I took charge of that gym battle yesterday... she kind of wants me now as a mate." Robin explained.

"Could you see if she'll at least consider going over a battle plan?" I asked.

"I can." Robin answered in a dejected way before leaving the room, and the house a minute or so later.

"You do know you're going to need to capture her if you're thinking about taking her with us right?" liz asked.

"Yeah I know that, but first we have to talk it over." I said.

"That shouldn't be to difficult seeing as Feara can actually talk." liz pointed out.

I suddently remembered something I wanted to ask Crystal.

"Hay Liz? If I forget, please remind me to ask Crystal if she can"

I suddenly had a thought that stopped me dead.

"What?" Liz prompted.

"Well I was going to say program some kind of thesaurus for feara." I finished laimly.

"What's a" sarah's voice began from the bed room door.

She might have been trying to figure out how to say thesaurus in her own language, but Hope filled in that word.

"Yes, that." Sarah asked as she came over to stand by us.

"And what time is it anyway?" she asked.

Rotom supplied both answers.

"About twenty after six for the time, and a thesaurus is a book that tells you other meanings of words."

"Book being the operative word." I added.

"I see. You don't know if Fearo have anything like a written language." Bella said.

"That's right." I affirmed.

"I doubt it." Liz added.

"Yeah me to." I admitted.

I heard Liz go into thinking mode. That is to say her head whent into her hands and she started breathing in and out in a vary controled manner.

"It might have to wait until we return tonight, but if Crystal can use her programming skills to provide me with the words this thesaurus would contain, I might, and I stress might, be able to place a suggester inside her head."

"That's what you psychic types place inside the minds of those that have gone astray right?" Bella asked slower than she normally spoke.

"Wow you do get around." Liz said quietly before addressing all of us.

"Bella's right about the suggesters. We use them to help Gardevoir who have developed sirtain tendencies toward things like violence." she explained.

"So basically when said Gardevoir thinks about doing something violent, the suggester provides a peaceful solution to whatever situation they're facing?" Rotom asked.

"That's right. I had the rather unfortunate pleasure of having to help set my sister up with one, so I know how they're designed, but I don't have the skills to set up one on that magnitude, though one that just provides replacement words? Yeah I think I could do that, provided that Crystal can find a way to narrow down the list of words to about, maybe one hundred?" Liz said.

"I'm pretty sure she could do that. I'll send her an e-mail later and we'll go from there." Bella said as Robin arrived with Feara right behind him.

He landed with a heavy sigh before addressing me directly in a whisper.

"All right, you've got yourself a third battle partner, and it looks like I'll be siring her offspring at the vary least if you have to summon her into battle today."

"We might be able to get you out of that one." I said before explaining Liz's idea to both of them.

"I would gladly trade mating for speaking properly, if it can be done, otherwise our original arangement stands." Feara said after we finished.

Bella said she'd get the e-mail in Crystal's inbox so it'd be there upon Crystal's waking.

after she left to do that, robin discreetly took me aside.

"I know you want to train me and help me be the best bird I can be, but you should really consider training Feara instead." He began in a quiet whisper.

I thought over his words and realized what he didn't want to say but said anyway.

"Translation. I roodly interrupted your quest to find yourself and you want to finish that first." I said with a smile.

"That's correct sir." Robin answered respectfully.

"I'm fine with that, if that's really what you want to do. I'll even leave you registered to me so you can go where you want without needing to fear another Poké Ball." I replied.

"That would be awsome." he said vary softly.

he seemed to get vary thoughtfull before taking in a sudden breath.

Before I knew what was happening, a small bird was twittering just in front of me in a vary musical way.

"Hay Rotom," Robin began in an off-handed way.

"Is their any info you can't get off the web?" he finally asked.

"Yeah, stuff about personas." Rotom answered.

"I'm pretty sure I can't find vary much of that out there." Robin said as he used his wing to point at a window.

"But I'll check in from time to time and come back if any of that kind of stuff starts happening." Robin promised.

"Tell Sarah by for me okay?" Robin asked as I walked outside to see him off.

"And, please give Feara a chance. she might be just a little rood and full of herself, but she's awsome once you get to know her." Robin told me as he spread his wings.

"Will you at least consider watching the gym from a window or something?" I asked; wanting to at least be able to tell sarah that Robin was still thinking about us.

"I'm not making any promises, but it's vary likely I'll be there in some capacity." he replied.

"You have my number?" Rotom asked.

I do, and you have mine yes?" Robin asked.

I couldn't see how a bir could use a sel phone, but; seeing as Crystal probably gave it to him; I figured it had been modified for his use.

Rotom seemed just as surprised as I was, and my suspicions as to his having aquired a sel phone were sort of proven correct when they exchanged numbers, and Robin called out his persona and; somehow; made it aware of Rotom's number.

Before taking off, Robin walked right up to me before speaking.

"Hay, I know I'm leaving you, but I'm still your friend, and if something really bad happens and you need help, give me a shout and I'll come flying."

As he took off for parts unknown, I was vary glad for his confirmation of our friendship.

"Okay! Lets meat our newest partner!" Rotom said before we both went back in doors.

Training Feara was, vary different from any of the other Pokémon I'd trained up to that point.

Liz, Rotom, and all the others; once they woke up; didn't do much to help me out, so I was pretty much on my own with Feara.

She helped out where she could, but; aside from getting vary frustrated whenever her speech impediment decided to make itself known; she didn't have any experience communicating how she did things to others.

My unfamiliarity with birds; and flight in general; made itself known as well, but feara and I managed to patch up the rough spots in each other's knowledge throughout the morning.

Her moveset was also pretty diverse for what she was.

she had the normal things you'd expect a bird to have, peck, Quick Attack, Fury Attack, Aerial Ace, Pluck, Growl, and Leer, plus oddities like Rage, Detect, Protect and the beginnings of an Ominous Wind attack.

Rotom helped her perfect that last one, and I had an absolute blast watching and learning all her other moves.

Detect and Protect were going to come in vary useful against roxie and all her poison moves later in the day.

As said day war on, Bella asked if I wanted to walk to the gym battle or have her drive us there.

feara wanted bella to drive us so I could have the maximum amount of time to learn her moves, and I couldn't really object to her reasoning.

So I took full advantage of said time to learn all I could about her, and I even convinced Sora, Sarah and Chris to help her learn Endure as well.

Feara wasn't as rood as Robin said she'd be, but that was most likely do to the fact that she had a vary good reason to be as nice as possible to everyone.

I thought her smaller size would be a hindrance, but it actually helped out a lot because she was able to move vary fast for a Fearo; at least according to Rotom.

So training and getting acquainted went hand in hand until we broke for lunch.

Just before we all settled into our food, feara walked up to me and asked me to bend down.

I did, and she blew an extremely hot breath of air into my face.

Is that heatwave?" I asked.

"It can be, but that was the non-ranged version." Feara replied.

"Oh come on! You aren't going to be able to" sarah began, but Feara shot her heatwave; much more powerfully; in Sarah's direction, and it actually set sarah aflame.

Christina was already putting her out before any damage could accumulate however.

"and that's!" feara began as she took her place to begin eating her food.

"The name of that song?" Liz asked.

"actually I was ga" Feara blew out a breath before continuing, "'gunna say, not even a fourth of my power on that attack." she finished.

"We're going to get that fixed, or at the vary least, find a way around it." I vowed.

"da" fearra began before almost screaming in anguish.

"Make not a promis you can't keep." she finally finished after composing herself.

"That, sounded stupid, didn't it?" she asked quietly.

"No just slightly archaic." I said.

"That's, what?" she asked.

"It just means you sound like you were born a few hundred years ago." I explained.

"All right. That's fine for now." Feara said before going into vary lenghthy recommendations for how her moves could be deployed in the up-coming battle.

I found out that she and I thought vary much alike; as far as battle planning went, and Rotom chimed in just once to correct an oversight in Feara's logic.

After we'd all stuffed ourselves full to bursting, it was time to leave for Roxie's gym.

I had to 'catch' feara so I could use her on the team, but she was okay with that, provided her Poké ball was set for maximum freedom.

I complied, and the first thing she did was volunteer to fly above us as Bella drove, to provide an extra layer of protection.

After that, I put Sarah and Sora in their balls in preparation for the coming battle.

During the drive, we talked about who'd be my support for this battle, and Bethany decided she wanted to do it.

Seeing as she specialized in healing, I figured she'd know better how to deal with poison damage than anyone else, so I told her she had the job.

"Bethany?" Bella cautioned.

"I know. don't let my emotions get in the way." bethany replied.

"Not for any reason." Bella stressed.

"Not even if a Pokémon gets hurt." Rotom added.

"We all have to play by the rules this time. Last time was kind of an exception do to Hope, so we have to put on a good showing this time and prove that we can follow the rules like everyone else." Liz explained.

"That means you have to stay with Michael at all times." Hope added.

"Okay I wil." bethany said.

After that was settled, we rode in silence for a few minutes until Rotom spoke up.

"Hay Michael, a few messages just came in for you while we were talking just now."

"Okay play them back." I said.

Suddenly, a familiar voice issued from Rotom's location.

"Hello, this is Trey Wigglytuff. this message will inform you that my sister and I Will be watching the gym match today."

"That's it?" I asked after a few seconds had passed.

"For the first message yes." Rotom replied.

"Ge no pressure or anything." I said, and we all laughed.

After we all calmed down, rotom played the other message.

"This is Margaret from the velvet room. I realize this is sudden, but we just wanted to remind you that using personas in an official gym match is forbidden, as is using them in trainer battles or to capture actual Pokémon. We're all rooting for you today. good luck."

"Wow." I said.

"Direct, aren't they?" Bella asked.

"That's one way to put it." Christina replied from the back seat.

I groped for the window control on my arm rest, found it, and roled down my window.

"Hay Feara?" I called.

She circled around and lowered herself down to my level.

"Yes Michael?" she asked; almost right into my face.

"are you doing okay up there?" I asked.

"Just fine." feara said before making to fly off again.

"Hay their's a really long trafic light up ahead. Are you going to be okay hovering for several minutes?" bella asked.

"a thermal is ahead, I'll be fine." Feara said before flying off again.

And so the rest of the drive passed in silence until we made it to the gym.

bella let me out at the front door, but Liz and the others said they'd wait in the car with Bella while she found a parking place.

I knew this was just Liz's way of letting me know that I was going to be on my own for this battle.

I disembarked with rotom on my head and Bethany on my right shoulder.

Feara landed directly in front of me without being called and gave a small huff.

I knew she couldn't say Poké Ball, so I simply held it up and pressed its button.

After she was safely inside, I headed for the gym with guidance from Bethany.

Knowing the others were safe with Bella for the time being, I pulled open the heavy door and marched into the gym with my cane extended in front of me.

bella looked at Liz with as stern an expression as she could muster.

Are you sure about this? He could really use your help." she said.

"We can't caudal him forever." Liz said quietly before moving over in the front seat to be right next to Bella.

Hope had also moved up to the front with Liz so they could watch the gym battle on the car's built-in computer screen.

"If we keep helping him, he'll never learn how to do this on his own." Liz said; looking Bella directly in the eyes.

"I don't forsee a time where I won't be there for him, but I need to make sure he can function well on his own, and now's the perfect time. I didn't want to tell him about this because of what I just said, but if it looks like he can't do this by himself yet, we'll go in there." Liz continued.

Bella took in a breath and let it out vary slowly before saying, "Your logic is well founded, but I'm worried about him."

"You? Worried? About someone else besides Bethany? That's new." Christina said.

"Yes it is." Bella said; straight-faced.

"Bella don't you want to be there for Bethany?" Christina asked.

"She's always wanted to be in a Pokémon battle, and this is as close as she'll ever get, so, no." bella answered.

Hope leaned over to get a better look at the small screen built into the car's dashboard.

"I can't see that vary well." she said; pointing at said screen.

"Then I'll switch with you." Bella said before they both got out and swopped places.

"Hope sighed as she took her new place.

"Much better. I can actually make out Michael's face now." Hope said.

"I didn't know you had bad eye sight." Liz said.

"It's not bad, just Clefairy eye sight, for living in caves and wondering around at night and such. Hope explained before exclaiming, "Oh! It's starting!"

The opening introductions between roxie and Michael were just finishing up, and it was time for the challengers to send out the first Pokémon they'd be battling with.

A coin toss app was run, and Roxie was told to send out her first Pokémon; a Koffing; as it turned out.

"Predictable." Bella muttered.

Michael looked just a little unsure of wich Pokémon to send out, but that passed quickly, and he sent Feara onto the field.

Needless to say, everyone was a bit shocked.

"I thought for sure he'd use Sarah first." Hope said disappointedly.

"Oh stop worrying. Her time will come." Liz admonished playfully.

"But why Feara?" Hope asked.

Liz just laughed quietly before saying, "I think I know what he's got in mind."

Michael's POV

Feara didn't say a thing when I released her from the Poké Ball, she just took the field in prepparation for the battle.

"The strong and silent type huh?" Roxie asked.

"You could say that." I countered.

"Trainers ready?" the ref called.

"Nearly, I just need to point out to our challenger that I normally play music during gym battles with my band here." Roxie explained, pointing off to the side of the battle arena.

"She's pointing out her members." Bethany whispered into my ear.

"I know, I can hear her clothes rustling." I pointed out.

"Oh you can! So where'd I point?" she asked.

So I told her where each of her; now silent; band members were.

"Vary good. Maybe I should play music after all if your hearing is so sharp." Roxie quipped.

I thought about retorting, but the ref called for the battle to begin before I could.

Feara took off without any prompting from me.

We'd already planned out our opening moves at Chrystal's, and Feara was making good on that plan.

I wasn't worried if it failed, as I had several backup plans already forming in my head.

Feara reached the maximum flight height for the battle and leveled off.

She'd screamed all the way up, so I knew the plan was going to work.

Koffing didn't seem put off in the slightest by the flying enemy it was facing.

That did worry me a little, but I also knew the surprise we'd planned was going to rock; excuse the bad pun; its world.

"Make that bird feel your poison!" Roxie called.

Feara knew what to do, but it went off better than I'd hoped.

First Feara used Protect so that Koffing could open all of the holes on its body and release the gass it used to attack targets from long range.

Then she loosed an extremely thin stream of Heat Wave; more of an improvised Flamethrower attack really; directly into Koffings open holes.

Needless to say, it didn't take vary long for the gasses to ignite and cause a massive explosion.

That threw off Koffings battle plan, but Feara wasn't quite finished yet.

Using Detect, she dove into the aftermath of the explosion and plucked Koffings Bary from wherever it was kept.

She then flew down for a landing, but stopped just long enough to let Bethany take Koffing's Bary to use as a support item.

The ref called the first round in my favor, and Roxie got vary quiet for several seconds.

"I have to admit, that was, brilliant." She finally said.

I knew that Koffing would eventually learn how to control what I'd just forced it to do, and that; in turn; would result in Koffing learning the Self-destruct technique, so I wasn't worried about its health at the current moment.

I thanked roxie for her compliment, and she told me that I'd wouldn't be so lucky again as she sent out her Grimer.

This was the Pokémon on roxie's team I feared, as it could shut down my entire team with its minimize, Harden and Disable techniques.

In order to shut it down before it could bring any of those abilities to bare, I needed to take advantage of feara's exhalent eye sight and uncanny accuracy.

"Feara, I still need you." I said, and she was up in the air before I finished speaking.

"Don't think you can sweep me." Roxie called.

"I have no such delusions." I said.

"Good. That makes me feel better regarding what I'm about to do." she shot back before telling grimer to minimize.

"Feara, full on Heat wave! Do your best to make sure it hits please." I called.

Before Feara could even start the attack, she cried out and fel to the ground.

"Good Disable Grimer! Now we've got her!" Roxie called.

Somehow, Grimer's Disable technique had grounded Feara instead of stopping her Heat Wave attack.

I didn't have time to ponder how that was possible, as Grimer was already starting a second attack on my helpless bird; or so I thought.

"Feara, on your tallons." I called.

She complied, but much slower than I expected.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Feara just coughed in response.

"Feara?" I asked; getting more than a little worried.

"I'm, poisoned, somehow." She finally said through more coughing.

"That's because Grimer made you land in some of his trademark sludge." Roxie explained.

"How long?" I asked in Bethany's direction.

"Not long enough to be asking me questions. Use Feara's strength while you have it." was Bethany's response.

I hadn't planned on using Feara as a ground-bound creature, but luckily she had moves that could work in such a situation, and I'd taken the time to learn how to use them.

"Feara, use swift while moving around the field as fast as you can." I called.

She didn't say anything, but she did as I asked, and that was good enough for me.

The actual Swift attacks; while not vary powerfull; did hit Grimer and score some damage, but I wasn't done yet.

Before I could call my next command, roxie called for a Venoshock attack from Grimer.

It landed, but feara didn't seem to put off by it.

In fact, she seemed like she was trying to figure something out.

"What!" Bethany and Rotom screamed at once.

"Am I using a new technique?" Feara asked.

"Yeah it's Agility! Why?" Rotom replied.

"Just wondered." Feara called back.

"Feara, use that Agility to keep away from Grimer long enough to power up a Heat wave to combined with Take Down!" I called.

Seeing as feara was already poisoned, their was no need to play keep-away once she got the Heat wave ready.

She did; after about thirty seconds or so, and carried out my request.

It wasn't as big of a success as I'd planned, but it did do lots of damage to Grimer.

Feara seemed winded after all was said and done, so I called her back to my side.

"Ball." she croaked after reaching it.

I called her back and chose Sora as my next Pokémon.

"Ready." was all he said upon taking the field.

"Poison" Roxie began.

"Safeguard!" I called over her.

even though Sora was much slower than grimer, he still managed to get the Safeguard off before Grimers Poison gass attack could connect.

"Now, Natural gift!" I called.

"sora laughed evilly as he used the Natural Gift technique he was so good at; and the Starf Berry bethany had given him; to produce a psychic attack that defeated grimer outright.

Roxie switched into her Whirlipede without a word, and Sora and I already knew what to do.

"Get in there!" Roxie called.

Whirlipede did as it was told and used its speed to get right in Sora's face; which is what we'd counted on.

Sora avoided the giant bug's attacks, then he used Toxic to poison it vary badly.

As he backed off, he used Protect to keep the bug from eating him alive.

"Disable!" Roxie called.

Sora laughed as he snuk in a Leech Seed that would give him a little health back as time passed.

sora laughed again as the disable technique disabled his Leech Seed ability.

Needless to say, Roxie wasn't happy.

Sora spent the next few minutes avoiding Whirlipede's attacks with Protect while also using some of his own attacks to chip away at the bug's health and also reapplying Safeguard whenever it ran out.

He also kept laughing at Roxie for some reason or another; probably because he was besting her Pokémon without much effort.

"Oh yeah! we got this one in the bag!" Sora taunted as he kept moving around the arena.

I wanted to believe him, but just as I started to, I heard the unmistakable sound of Pokémon evolution.

Sora couldn't evolve any farther than he already was, and that left roxie's Whirlipede.

It was at that point that I knew we most definitely didn't have the match in the bag.


	9. Chapter 9

Attached

A Pokémon Persona Crossover Fanfiction

by Three Black Noises

Chapter 9

"What is that!" Hope exclaimed; pointing at the screen.

"That madam, would be a Scolipede." bella answered matter-of-factly; also pointing a claw at the screen.

"Isn't it to early for that?" Liz asked quietly.

"Is it within eight levels?" Chris asked as he climbed up into the front to join the others.

"Definitely." Liz and bella answered together.

"So we should be in there right?" Christina asked.

"What could we do, besides tell him what he already knows." Bella asked.

"Support our friends! Duh." christina said.

"Sarah's going to need a friend." Hope said.

"Wait you two." bella commanded.

"What!" they both said.

"Have any of you thought about the possibility of Michael forfiting?" she continued.

Liz had, but didn't voice it.

"Can't Feara do something?" Christina asked.

"Girl that bug is over eight feet tall!" Hope said.

"What's the flight limit again?" Christina asked.

"Eight feet." Liz answered.

"Feara's tost." Christina sobbed.

"Feara? What about Sora, and, sarah." Hope asked.

"Girls. Let's not get all bent out of shape until Michael makes his choice." Bella said.

"Hay?" Chris asked.

He'd been lookking at something out of the window instead of at the screen.

Everyone lookked at him briefly.

"isn't Maria the name of that vary large smoochum responsible for helping Sarah catch sora?" he asked.

"Ahuh? Why?" Hope asked.

"Because I just saw her enter the gym after winking at us." Chris said quietly.

and that was all it took for everyone to forget about the match for a few seconds.

Michael's POV

The monster let out a loud shreak, and I knew we were definitely in for a rough ride.

Sora tried to defend himself against the giant creature, but it took him down easily with a swipe; or maybe rapid swipes; of one of its claws.

"Sora is unable to battle!" the ref called.

"One shot?" I asked.

"Yep. It's in a whole other league than Whirlipede!" Rotom called.

"Well yeah that's why it's an evolution." I said.

"Michael?" Bethany asked quietly.

"What's up Bethany." I responded.

"Um, I know that as your support I need to always be on your side, but we should probably forfit." she suggested.

"I don't do that at the first sign of trouble." I countered.

"You can't see that scolipede over there, we can." Bethany insisted.

"It's no problem. feara can take it." I persisted.

I let feara out of her ball, and she took flight without comment regarding the giant bug we were facing.

"I got this." feara said as she came in for an attack, but scolipede just swotted her out of the air wit no effort at all.

"Iron Defence!" Roxie called as feara came back to her talons.

She climbed back into the air without complaint and proceeded to charge her Heat wave again.

"That's not going to work! scolipede, Rollout!" Roxie called.

"Protect and Detect now!" I called in desperation.

feara did as she was asked, but it didn't seem to have any effect as the monstrocity of a bug that was scolipede literally roled Feara over and over on the ground.

After the attack was over, Feara showed everyone what a trooper she really was by climbing to her tallons; despite the pain, and delivering a Heat wave attack directly into scolipede's face.

The poison she was still under must have kicked in at that point, because she fell to the groun and didn't get up.

"Feara is unable to Battle!" the ref called.

"No kidding!" Bethany said sarcastically.

"That thing weighs half a ton. Maybe we should check on her?" Rotom asked.

He needn't have, because I was already on the ground feeling around for Feara so I could place her head in my hands.

"I'm sorry." she groaned.

"You were a real trooper. No need to be sorry at all. In fact it's me who should be apologizing for sending you in to face that thing." I said quietly as she sat up.

I gave her a big hug, started to return her to her ball, thought better of it, then reached for sarah's ball and released her onto the field.

"Let's" sarah began before seeing Scolipede and screaming her little head off.

"Hay Sarah don't" I began before Scolipede let out an enormously loud roar that sent her into the fetal position.

"Feara! she called as she went down.

"Already out." Feara said calmly.

"Sora?" she asked slowly.

"I'm out to." he said quietly.

"Then..." Sarah began as she climbed to her feet.

"I have to at least try?" she asked, more than said.

I weighed my options, then called for the referee.

"I'm sorry everyone," I began.

(LET ME OUT!) a voice cried inside my head that I quickly identified as Prinplup's.

(We can't.) Sarah reasoned.

(I want to help you!) Prinplup said; much calmer now.

(We don't have the moves to fight that, thing!) Sarah argued.

(If you let us evolve we might have enough ice power to)

(Prinplup? That's a big might. If it doesn't work, then what?) Sarah asked.

Prinplup didn't have an answer to Sarah's argument; at least that's what I took from her silence.

(You're not me until I say you are, so until then, I make the calls.) sarah said.

"But I feel the best course of action for me and my team at this point is to" An icey hand landed on my shoulder, and I stopped talking to the referee.

"send me in now." the voice belonging to the icey hand whispered in my ear.

"I can't. You aren't on my team." I said as I reached out to feel what was talking to me.

She took my hands and guided them around a few places on her body.

She was cold; I mean really cold, and ssemed to be waring what felt like a dress under a fleece jacket that was almost as cold as shee was.

I wasn't allowed to see all her feetures, but what I did get to see matched up with what I'd imagined a smoochum that had been allowed to mature without evolving into a Jinx might look like.

That is to say she looked like a little girl of about ten years or so, but I had a feeling she was much older than that.

"You're Maria, the one who helped sarah out with sora, aren't you?" I asked.

"Gilty." she answered.

"I wanted to thank you for that, but had no way of seeking you out, so, thank you." I said.

"No problem, so are we good to go?" she asked.

"Why are you helping him." Sora asked.

"Let's just say I finally found a partner that's not a total jirk." She answered.

"That's all well and good, but I kind of promissed sarah she could battle in the match." I told her.

bethany was trying to get my attention by getting into a position to whisper in my ear, so I let her tell me that subbing Maria in for sarah was a good move.

"I've never even heard of subbing in a Pikémon battle." I told her.

"That's because it's rarely done. My Whirlipede evolved into a Scolipede in the match today, and as such, that gives you the right to sub out one of the Pokémon you put into the match for another of your choosing, either from your own team or failing that, one you trust or just choose on blind faith." Roxie explained.

"Well, none of my remaining Pokémon are ones I can actually battle with, so, assuming Maria is allowed to battle, I guess it's fine, provided you can convince Sarah to give up her spot." I finally said; more worried about convincing Prinplup to give up than sarah.

So Maria nelt down in front of Sarah; who was still scared to death of Scolipede, and asked her if she'd mind letting someone else step in on her behalf.

To her credit, Sarah; or Prinplup; wasn't one to just let another Pokémon; or person; just take her place.

"Can you win?"" she asked.

"Possibly." Maria responded confidently.

Feara had climbed to her talons by then and chose that moment to get directly up in Maria's face.

"How high do you rate your chances at victory?" she asked loud enough for all to hear.

Maria didn't take to long to answer.

"I'd say I have at least a seventy percent chance at being victorious." she said.

"Those are pretty good odds so" Rotom was trying to get my attention before I finished talking.

"What?" I asked him.

"Hay, Michael? You should know that if you do this, you won't actually be able to give her any commands, seeing as she's, technically wild." he told me.

"He's correct. I'm afraid I'd have to end the match as a forfit on your part if you give a single command to Maria." the ref told me.

"So it's either stick with Sarah, trust Maria, or forfit." I confirmed.

"Pretty much." Roxie afirmed.

At that point, all my other friends arived.

"sorry we didn't come in with you. I kind of convinced the others to give you a shot on your own." Liz said out of breath.

"Yeah you would have wun if that thing hadn't evolved." Chris added.

"It's highly possible. His strategy was sound, and all of his preplanning seems to have been right on the money. To bad he didn't plan for Scolipede." Roxie said from her position.

"It's to early for that." I said calmly.

"Don't always go by the Pokédex. All those figures for levels and evolution are just ballpark after all." Roxie said, then added, "Sorry rotom."

"It's fine." Rotom said to her, then to me, he asked, "so what are you goin to do?"

"Maria?" I said in reply.

"I've got a Fero in my face." she stated.

"Hay Feara. you probably need to back off now." I suggested.

Instead of backing away however, Feara moved to Maria's side, and seemed to lean in close.

"Okay. I'll keep that in mind." Maria said slowly after a few seconds.

Feara then moved to stand beside me; allowing Maria to take the field.

as she did, she asked me not to be to mad if she did lose.

_I asked her to just do her best, and the ref asked me to confirm that I was indeed subbing Maria in for Sarah._

I confirmed I was, and the battle got back under way.

I hated not being able to give my new partner any commands, but I hated wasting this chance to finally get on my way as a trainer even more.

Before the ref could properly start the battle, both Roxie and Sarah called for him to wait.

Sarah gave Maria her poison recovery item, and Roxie felt obliged to inform me that, due to its evolution, Scolipede was no longer seeded.

I thanked both for their generocity and information respectively, and the ref called for the battle to begin.

Maria threw her jacket at me, and; seeing as I couldn't really do anything else for her; I decided to hold on to it during the match.

Maria used Fake Out to get in a little bit of damage, then used the time Scolipede needed to recover to cast Calm mind.

Roxie's first move was Pursuit, which was no surprise as Maria was part psychick type.

She avoided it easily enough and countered with confusion.

I didn't yet know what all the different moves sounded like in this version of Pokémon battling, but Bethany was the one who mostly helped me out.

Rotom did correct her a few times, though she was still in the ballpark with regard to what each move was.

Roxie tried to use Poison Sting on Maria a few times, but gave that up as a bad job pretty quick as it left Scolipede open to take direct hits from Maria's Icey Wind attacks; or so Feara whispered into my ear.

Then Roxie tried to use Bug Bite and; after a few attempts; managed to land a hit.

Maria used her bary to get wrid of the poison status, and Bethany threw her the Oran bary Feara managed to pluck from Koffing.

Roxie kept her cool and finally managed to use Poison Tail to get Maria poisoned again.

Maria; for her part; held her ground exceedingly well; even managing to thwart Roxie's Pursuit and protect moves with some vary clever choices of her own, like starting to use a move, hearing Roxie call for a Protect, and using a vary; shal we say; mundane move like Pound, or; failing that; a standard punch to get around the Protect before using the move she'd started using in the first place.

She landed several Confusion attacks on Scolipede as well as using Powder Snow to keep the giant bug at bay.

This back and forth exchange went on for several minutes as Maria chipped away at Scolipede's health.

She even found a way to work in a wish technique to recover some of her health as a means of wasting one of Scolipede's Protects.

Roxie's poison strategy came through for her in the end though, but; just like Feara; Maria used her last bit of strength to hit scolipede directly in the face with a fully powered Ice Beam attack which did massive damage and almost gave us the win.

The attack also froze Scolipede in a solid block of ice, so we had to wait for that to thaw before the ref could issue a verdict.

"Why didn't you use that Ice Beam attack earlier?" Rotom asked Maria in the interim.

I had a feeling about why she'd stuck with Icy Wind, but decided to let her answer for herself.

"Can't, aim, vary, well, while, moving." Maria said haltingly.

Unfortunately , that was the time when Scolipede's poison chose to finish Maria off.

"I'm so vary sorry I couldn't" She moaned as she went down.

"It's all right. we'll get you back to Crystal's and get you a good rest and you'll be good as new." I said.

"Maria is un"

Scolipede broke out of the ice and crashed to the ground with a noise so loud the ref couldn't finish his declaration.

"Okay? Both Pokémon are unable to battle, so it's a draw!" he finally finished.

"Oh man that's two for two!" Rotom, sort of shouted.

"It's still better than two losses." Feara said as Maria came to her feet.

"That was fast." I said to her.

"I'm an, just unable to battle, not unable to function, thaa, but I could use something for this poison." she said quietly.

"Gotcha covered their." I said as I pulled out the antidotes I got from Theodore.

"Hay those are mine!" Bethany cried.

"Well I guess we're in good hands then." I said as I cracked one open.

"I don't remember seeing these at the Poké Marts?" Maria said before drinking it.

"That's because it's an as yet unreleased product." Bethany said pointedly in my direction.

"The people who sold these to me just wanted to help." I said quietly; wondering why Bethany didn't bring this issue up yesterday at the ranch.

"Oh. Those people huh?" Bethany asked, and I knew she understood what I was getting at.

"Wow this is really good!" Maria exclaimed after she finished it.

"feara needs one." she added as she handed me the bottle.

"I know. I haven't forgotten about our valiant bird or intrepid flower." I said as I freshened each of them up.

"So... Now what?" sora asked.

"Well, first, we eat. I'm starving." I said as we left the Gym.

Maria, more or less; took over our evening plans.

First, she made me check Sora, Feara, and herself into the Virbank Pokémon center for a quick examination, just to make sure everything was okay.

I would have done that anyway, but Maria's recommendation came with the perk that I didn't have to pay for said examination.

After we checked out of the Pokémon center, Maria changed our dinner venue from one that was sort of rowdy and rambunctious, to one that was most defanitly quiet and relaxed.

She knew the manager, and he agreed to oblige us with a holsome; if not overly extravagant; meal in exchange for an extremely small sum of cash for what we ended up getting.

To make up for the lack of cash however, we had to agree to befriend Maria to the best of our ability; which we were going to do anyway, though he didn't need to know that.

Every Pokémon orderd food appropriate to his or her unique needs, and so did I; for that matter.

Surprisingly, Liz, Bella and Maria ate human food like me, though Maria had to eat slightly coold-down food on account of her being an ice Pokémon.

As a former ghost, Rotom ran into a slight problem; seeing as he'd never had the need to eat any material food before, and thus had no idea what to order.

After a few minutes, it was decided that we'd all order slightly larger portions than usual, and Rotom could just try a bit of everything until he found something he liked.

The waiter did give us a free appetizer sampler out of pity for Rotom, and none of us saw the need to object.

Just as we completed our orders, Ruby and Trey showed up out of nowhere, though I suspected they'd been transported to the Virbank City Pokémon center by Jade, and from their; somehow; tracked us down.

They; or rather; Ruby; knew exactly what to order for herself and Trey. We didn't get any more freebees, but Bella assured us that all would be taken care of, and it was.

As they then consoled me regarding the results of the gym battle, Bella began setting up a rather strange contraption she'd brought in with her.

It was a kind of bole-shaped device, with a separate, smaller bole that rose from a depression at one end.

Bella filled each bole with different liquids, then proceeded to set Bethany inside the apparatus and bring yet another peace down over her face.

She inserted a strange cartridge into the top of this final peace and pressed a button on the device.

What's that?" Ruby asked.

"It's how we feed Bethany." Bella explained quickly.

"Is she sick?" Trey asked.

"No. Her body just needs, special nutrients." Bella explained as our food arived.

To my surprise, the waiter had brought a similar apparatus for Sora, though it didn't close up like Bethany's did.

Sora seemed to enjoy his, 'food' immensely, and indicated to us that his previous trainer didn't feed him the same way.

"He probably didn't know any better." Bella said as quietly as she was able.

The rest of dinner time wasn't spent discussing battle strategies, as Maria felt we'd all had enough of battling for one day.

She did; however; make sure we had plenty of time for that tomorrow before making her suggestion.

So we all got to know each other a little better; Maria being the stand-out subject; as all of us had lots of questions regarding her day-to-day life for however long she'd ben around.

She couldn't be captured; I mean, befriended, so she basically lived sort of like a homeless person, all be it an extremely respectfull and responsible one.

as she was still a Pokémon, she wasn't allowed to receive any kind of monetary compensation for any work she did, though she found ways to still get paied for her helpfull efforts; mostly in things she needed, IE clothing and the like.

I pointed out that, as far as I understood it, Smoochum came with clothing built-in, but Maria laughed that off saying that Smoochum could make clothing out of ice, but only in icy climates.

Christina wanted to know if Maria had ever considered being a trained Pokémon until now, and Maria seemed like she needed to be vary carefull with her answer.

At least, that's what I thought until Maria slammed her hand down on the table saying, "I'm special. Why would anybody want me?"

"What do you think I am?" Bella countered.

"A super-powered killing machine." Maria answered bluntly.

Bella let out a vary loud huff before replying, "Yeah okay. Believe what you read why don't you. No, I mean, what do I look like, as in, what Pokémon species would you classify me as."

Maria didn't quite know what to say to that.

"Everyone else, don't answer yet." Bella prompted.

Maria stood up and walked around to get a better view of Bella before walking back to her seat and sitting down again.

"I have no clue." she finally said quietly.

"Corsola, for the most part." Bethany answered after removing her, umm, food machine thingy.

"Corsola? Really?" Maria asked.

"Mostly. Along with DNA from Octillery, Kingdra, Golem and some others? I'm sorry, the reports I was able to decrypt were a little vague, to say the least." Bella explained.

"I see. I guess, you look great, for what you, are." Maria said haltingly.

"So do you." Bella complimented.

"at least I resemble something, recognizable. You, well." Maria began.

"It's okay. I know what I am." Bella said quietly.

"Yeah, Pokémon assassination weapon system 3855239." Rotom responded.

bella reached over an grabbed Rotom so fast he let out a squeak that almost sounded like it had an electric hiss behind it.

"Where have you been snooping." she hissed in his ear.

"Nowhere. It's publicly available as your Pokédex entry." rotom explained.

bella took some time with this info.

"what? Else, does. It. Say, about. Me." she finally asked.

"you want the entire entry?" Rotom asked.

after a pause, he just read it anyway.

Bella, First known member of the Pokémon assassination weapon system, (PAWS).

Most notable for being the predecessor to the genetic atrocity Mewtwo, Bella has become a world-wide simble of perseverance, and a role model to struggling people and Pokémon everywhere.

Her current ocupation is shared with her only friend, bethany Porter, Founder of Porter Potions LTD.

Together, they help to make the world a better place while listening to heavy metal bands.

"Oookay, I think I know who wrote this." Bella said quietly.

"Are they in trouble?" Sarah laughed.

"They're fine, but only because I approve this entry." Bella said.

"You're only saying that because we're never apart." Bethany added with a laugh of her own.

"So what happens if you do get separated." Hope asked.

"We'll just remove the part about working together." Bella said smoothly.

"Won't you have to pay someone to do that?" sarah asked.

"No. I can do it if need be." Rotom replied brightly.

While Sarah was thinking about money, she apparently decided to ask if Maria expected to be paid for her assistance in the gym battle, to which, Maria simply told us that she'd only ask for payment if the rest of the evening and first part of tomorrow didn't go as she'd planned.

I didn't know what that ment, but decided not to worry about it until I had to.

"So, were you born here in Virbank?" Liz asked.

"No, but I couldn't tell you exactly where if my life depended on it. My best guess would have to be somewhere within the colder regions of Johto, though I could be wrong." Maria explained.

"So, how'd a lolly smoochum get from somewhere in Johto to all the way out here in Unova?" Chris asked.

"I walked, mostly, except for the parts where I needed to travel by ship." Maria began.

"Kind of like us." Chris cut in. I had no idea if he pointed at Liz, but he probably did seeing as Maria turned in her direction.

"Strange we never ran into one another." Maria said.

"We might have been on the same ship once or twice, but we'd never run into each other unless one of us knew the other existed." Liz explained.

"That seems logical. You mind if I ask a question?" I asked before anyone else could.

"Shoot!" Maria invited.

"What made you want to help us out?"

I expected Maria to need to think on this question, but she had an answer ready.

"I saw Sarah battling with Sora and thought, 'hmm, what would become of that Pokémon if it was in that blind trainers party?',

and so I made sure Sarah at least had a chance to make it happen.

After she was successfull, I simply let time give me my answer.

I didn't know you were competing in a gym battle today, or that you'd be so quick to use your new Pokémon in it,

but once I saw how well you'd trained him in just under a day, I started entertaining the notion of possibly traveling with all of you.

I still had no idea how I'd approach this issue with any of you until that bug evolved mid match, but when it did,

I knew your current team would be no match for an over-sized Scolipede, so I rushed to help, and decided to let fate take over." Maria explained.

"and now we're eating dinner together." Feara finished; not quite, finnished, with the bit of food she was currently working on.

"Yes, and please finish with your food first." Maria said as she gestured at Feara."

"Sorry." Feara said after finishing her food.

"You're still learning manners." I said to Feara before asking Maria my next question.

"So what do you want me to do for you? I can't really see me teaching you any new techniques or anything, seing as you held your own pretty well in the battle today."

"She's stil got a lot to learn." Rotom replied.

Maria didn't say anything to Rotom, but she must have looked at him in some way, because he apologized extremely quickly.

"So you want me to just train you like all of my other friends?" I asked.

"That is correct, however, I'd like to spend a bit of time with you before I make up my mind on weather I'm staying or not." Maria explained.

"And that time is what you indicated previously." Liz confirmed.

"It is." Maria answered smoothly.

"And what if your status becomes an issue?" Trey asked.

"I don't see that becoming a problem, but if it does, I'll just leave." Maria answered.

"And what if you're needed on the team?" Sora asked.

"We'll just find another Pokémon friend to do my job. Next question." Maria answered.

Feara made to ask something, but just blew out her breath reall slowly instead.

She tried again several more times with the same result before Maria said, "Feara, just asked your question. we're all friends here."

feara seemd like she was unable to get the question into a word form that pleased her.

"Just ask it in your own language." Ruby suggested.

Feara made a strange sound that seemed to say, "If only I could.

Liz got up from her position and moved to stand next to Feara.

"Just think" she began as she placed one of her hands on feara, but then gasped before telling Feara to "turn down the volume!"

"Sorry." Feara said quietly as Liz took her place at the table again.

"She wants to know if you have any political enemies." Liz said in Maria's direction.

"No I don't have any of those people who go after people they hate." Maria responded, then asked, "Was that what you were trying to ask?"

"Yes it was." Fear answered greatfully.

Feara didn't elaborate on her speech impediment, and Maria didn't ask about it, so I gathered that they'd both come to an understanding in regards to it.

"Any other questions about me?" Maria asked; picking up something that smelled vary sweet.

Their were none, so we made small talk through the rest of the meal.

After we finished; and Bella paied, we left the establishment with full stomachs and hearts that; while still heavy with the day's loss, were considerably lightened by Maria's presence.

With the added company of both Wigglytuff; I'd new I'd need to put some of my friends into their Poké balls in order to fit most of us into Crystal's car for the journey to her house, but Liz stopped me as I reached for them.

"Hay Feara?" she asked.

Feara didn't answer vocally, but Liz continued all the same.

"Do you think you could take me along?"

Feara must have nodded, because Liz; vary unceremoniously; climbed onto her back in readiness to take flight.

I didn't have to wait long to find out the reason.

"Bella?" Liz said easily as she settled herself on Feara's back.

"Just drive like you always do. I'll control Feara's flight and stay within bond range."

"You got it." Bella said as she gave something to Liz before feara took off.

"She's testing how far apart you to can be before side effects happen." Bella explained to me as we all got into the car.

I sat up front in between Bella and Maria. I held Bethany in my lap while Maria held Sora in hers.

as grass types week to psychic energy, Sora and Bethany would know before anyone else if my bond with Liz was reaching its breaking point.

Bella turned the key, said something about tracking, then proceeded to store Bethany's feeding apparatus in the trunk before dropping back in beside me once more.

After we all got buckled in, Bella just sat their.

"Go Bella." Sarah said.

"Liz is conducting a range test. Us moving would defeat the point of said test." Bella explained as she typed on the car's computer.

"Huh?" was Sarah's response.

"We're already at one end of an island. Crystal's house is, more or less, at the other end. If Liz can make it all the way there without any side effects between her and Michael, they'll have valuable data as to the range of their bond." Ruby explained.

"How long?" I asked; refering to the time it would take for feara to reach Crystal's.

"About one minute more." Rotom answered from the back.

"It'll be more than that Rotom. The tracker I gave to Liz shows at least five." Bella explained.

"You must be thinking of robin's speeds." christina said.

"google earth, really?" Maria asked.

"It's just an overlay." Bella said.

"So what, we can see where they are right now?" Sora asked.

"More or less. They're just leaving Virbank city." Bella explained as the car made an e-mail notification sound, and Bella seemed to open said e-mail.

"Okay, crystal is awake, and knows that Liz is headed her way." she said.

"Can I see that map thing?" Sora asked.

I heard Bella nodd, and then he and Bethany switched places so Sora could lean over and look at what Bella was looking at.

"huuh." he said as he looked.

"So, this is us?" he asked. A nodd from Bella.

"And, is this, where you found me?" he asked a few seconds later.

"It is." Bella replied.

"So, if this is Feara and Liz, then, they, should be almost at Crystal's, if that's what, this, is." he finished.

"Wow you catch on fast." Bella said; her amazement at Sora's intelligence only masked by her inability for her voice to show it.

Just then, I got a mental message from Liz that they'd almost reached Crystal's, and that her and Feara were going to circle above the house and see how high they could get before side effects showed themselves.

I relayed this to Bella, and she immediately turned the engine over saying, "You let me know as soon as things start feeling unusual and we'll close the distance."

They didn't; even after Feara flew half a mile off shore, so Liz headed back to Crystal's, and so did we.

Upon arival, Crystal was waiting for us outside.

"I heard about today." she said quietly to me as I passed her.

"At least we didn't lose." I said; matching her volume as the others headed past me.

"So, are you still challenging Burgh tomorrow?" she asked after the others were safely inside.

"I don't have a choice." I told her; knowing that if I didn't challenge Burgh now, It could be a long time before I'd get another chance at a bug badge.

"Yes you do." Crystal said sternly; putting a hand on my arm.

"Look, you don't even have an effective team yet. You might want to step back and build one first." she suggested.

"They need this chance"

"To prove themselves?" crystal countered.

I nodded.

"Who, Sarah and Hope?" she asked; sounding just a tad angry.

"You know as well as I do that they haven't got a chance against a bug gym leader." she persuaded.

"Actually, more like Maria and Feara." I said quietly.

Crystal didn't say anything immediately, so I continued.

"I've only got Maria for one more day, and Feara almost wun against Roxie and needs another chance."

Crystal thought for a moment, then blew out an extremely long breath as in resignation.

"Okay. I'll take you, if you really won't change your mind." she finally said, but I could tell she was against the idea.

"I couldn't really blame her either, as both of us knew that if I really wanted to go through with the challenge, their wasn't anything she could do to stop me, as I'd just go on my own.

She probably could have made Bella hold me down until I agreed to stay, but we both knew that wasn't happening.

"It's not just about my team. I know this is going to sound stark, but I also need the money for after you and I part ways." I explained.

"That's not going to be a problem." she said before leaning down and putting her face directly in line with my ear.

Her whisper was so soft, I actually had to make an effort to hear it through her breath that left watter residue in my ear.

"The league understands that both your draws were direct results of things beyond your control, so they've just deposited 3960 Poké dollors into your account, and both gym leaders agreed to this as well."

I started to reply, but she put her hand over my mouth, then turned vary slightly in the direction of the door.

I got her meaning, and we both joined the others inside.

Once everyone was assimbled, I broke it down for them.

After I'd laied out all the information and left the floor open, feara spoke up.

"Is this a Va, va." she then blew out her breath before raising her wing and putting it down again, but Maria was their for her.

"Vote?" she finished.

"Yes that." feara said in relief

"It is." I assured her.

She took her time responding.

"I'd like to challenge, but I'd alsa."

"Also." Liz filled in.

"Like to train more to." Feara continued as if she'd said 'also' herself.

"So what do you want to do more." Rotom asked.

Feara thought about it for a long time; talking under her breath.

"If we wun we'd have money, but not as much knowledge and we might get hurt to." she sighed, but in annoyance at the problem rather than frustration due to her speech impediment.

"Maria? You're leaving tomorrow. What's your call?" she finally asked.

Maria was ready with her answer.

"I say we wait."  
Sarah sprang to her feet with a yell of rage.

"Sarah!" feara admonished.

Sarah shut up, but Feara wasn't done.

"We'll have chances before you leave to prove ourselves. Right now, we all need to collect, regroup and train." she explained.

Sarah wasn't happy with the advice, but Hope stepped in to explain that we'd all be a lot stronger if we took time to train first, and she'd personally make sure that Sarah would have at least one chance to prove herself before they both left.

It was at this point that Ruby spoke up.

"Trey and I are heading home. The both of us are completely useless to you right now, and each of us have things that need attending to at home."

Trey picked up the explanation.

"I can continue my education at home while Ruby catches up on matters there."

Ruby took over again.

"We'd also like to make a request of you."

she left the air open, so I nodded for her to continue, but it was Trey who spoke.

"You remember Tina?" he asked.

"Your little sister. How could I forget that nice Wigglytuff?" I replied with a small laugh.

"If she is up to it, we would like you to train her instead of me, as she is much better at gathering information than I." trey finished.

"She's also much closer to your trainer level, so she'd be able to aid you in combat to." Ruby added.

"I," here trey paused in his delivery before sighing in a vary theatrical manner.

"I am only here because I messed up." he finished.

at this point, I'd figured out that this entire pitch had been rehearsed beforehand

"So," Trey began.

"Please help our little sister?" they finished together.

"No need to get all theatrical or anything. The answer is yes, but only if she agrees to it." I explained.

"That is good news." Tina said before they both hugged me.

"Are you leaving now?" Bella asked.

"We are." Trey confirmed.

"Then I'll walk along at a distance and shadow both of you, and Tina to, just so you make it where you're going." Bella offered.

I had no issues with the arangement, so they all left vary quickly.

as soon as they were gone, I decided to talk with the others to see how each of them really felt about the idea of training first and passing up tomorrows gym battle in order to do so.

"sora?" I asked, then waited for him to approach.

"I can't fight insects." he said quietly; standing just outside of the inhibition range of the translation bug.

"I know. That's why I figured you stayed quiet until now." I replied at the same volume.

"And you're okay with training for a few days?" I asked.

"What ever you feel is best is fine with me." sora replied.

"Rotom?" I asked.

"We really need to train, and I'll do what I can to speed up the process. What do I need to start researching?" he asked.

"Where we should be heading, for starters." I said.

Rotom was quiet for a few seconds before he spoke again.

"Translation, what gym leaders are available?" he finally asked.

"We need to know that so we can plan what region we're going to." I explained.

"Is their one I can win against?" Sarah asked quietly.

"I don't know." I answered in Rotom's direction.

Rotom blew out a vary long breath as a reply before asking, "You 'wunna go to Kanto?"

"Sure if Brock and at least one other gym leader are staying out of the PWT." I responded.

"Can we even get to this, place?" Sarah asked.

"Good question. Hay Rotom, do you have a list of the ports of call Hope's ship is visiting?" I asked.

"No but I'm already looking it up." he replied before going silent.

"IS rock all I'm good against?" Sarah asked in the interim.

"No you're also good against ground, fire, and if we get your ice skills up to snuf, flying, bug and dragon." I replied.

"Okay so fire and ground gym leaders. Any of those around?" Sarah asked.

"Not here in Unova, but I'm still checking stuf." Rotom replied.

"Clay's here." Sarah said.

"I'm surprised you even remember that conversation." I laughed.

"Of course I do"

sarah trailed off before speaking again.

"Oh, he's busy right?" she asked.

"You'd be correct." I answered.

"Hyyah! Got it!" Rotom exclaimed; jumping into the air.

"What?" Sarah and I asked together.

"Okay, Hoenn's the first stop on the S.S. Miracle's itinerary, that's in fifteen days. I've just sent off e-mails to Roxanne and Flannery, and Roxanne for sure says she'll battle us before she departs for Unova. Even if Flannery can't, Norman and Wattson can be battled as they're staying out of the PWT at least until next month, So you can get a makeup shot at the normal badge and maybe an electric badge to." Rotom said in a rush.

"If memory sirves, that'd be the Dynamo, Balance, Stone, and maybe Heat badges right?" I asked.

"Wow! Yes!" Rotom responded.

"The ship's called Miracle?" Sarah asked incredulously.

"Well it's actually the S.S. Anne, but it's been temporarily christened Miracle for this voyage. besides, Miracle's a perfect name for what Hope brings with her." rotom replied.

Hope sighed at Rotom's remark, and I suddenly remembered the conversation we'd been putting off.

"sarah? Has it ever occured to you that I might not always be successfull?" she asked.

"Of course you will! You're Hope." Sarah cried.

"Oh really?" Hope asked as she walked over and placed her hands on my face.

"Come on Hope, you can fix him!" Sarah encouraged.

"I wish that were true, but he'll be fine with his blindness. He's more than used to it by now." Hope explained.

"She's right Sarah. I'm not sure having sight would help all that much at this stage." I added.

Sarah didn't take to long to process this information.

"If he's fine with it, than you're okay to." she finally said.

"No I'm not." Hope said; still with her hannds on my face.

"Their might be times, where my power won't be able to help or save someone." Hope finally said quietly.

sarah didn't say anything for a while, so Hope released me and picked her up.

"I'd love to have you along on my journey, but I want you to understand what you're getting in to, okay?" she explained.

Sarah acted like she wanted to object, but none was forth coming, as bella burst through the door with Tina in her arms.

"Put me down you weird thing!" Tina screamed as the door slammbed behind them.

"Best complement I've ever had." Bella said calmly as she released tina.

"I need to get" Tina began again but stopped suddenly before starting again.

"Michael? Where is Trey?"

"he and Ruby are back home. why?" I asked as she made her way over to me.

"What? So." Tina began again.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you. They disappeared, and almost at the same time, you came flying out of the same spot directly into my arms." Bella calmly explained.

"Of course I did. seeing as I was flung out of my home by at least three unidentifiable wigglytuff." Tina said in a clipped way.

"That's impossible." Bella growled.

"Seeing as I am here now? No, I amquite afraid it is." Tina corrected.

"I don't see how three wigglytuf mannaged to throw you more than twenty feet." Bella said; her voice rising slightly.

"Twenty feet? are you sure?" tina asked.

"Of course I'm sure! Ruby told me to stand at least that far away so as not to be caught by the effects of the portal when her and Trey went through." Bella exclaimed as best as she was able.

"Then others must have been helping with psychic powers." I suggested.

"That sounds plausible." Liz said; standing to shake Tina's hand.

"Liz?" Tina asked.

"That's correct." Liz confirmed before Sarah made to speak.

"Hay Tina? Did you even manage to obtain guidance from the nice Gengar before you came here?"

"We do not host any Gengar where I come from. Wait, from whom did any of my people ever obtain guidance from said Gengar?" Tina asked.

"Your brother Trey." Sara replied promptly.

"We do not commune with evil spirits from the world of shadows." Tina afirmed.

"Trey did, just before he was banished." Sarah said.

"I beg your pardon little Piplup, but I believe I know my home better than you do, and we would never open talks with representatives of evil from the realm of shadows, even on any of our death beds." tina said calmly.

Sara walked right up to tina before speaking vary quietly.

"What about the psynet."

"All of my people use it, and I asure you, it only allows us to commune with our departed ancestors, and also some of those wigglytuff who have been captured by humans." Tina replied; matching Sara's volume level.

"Do you have any prouf to back of your claim?" Liz asked.

"I do, and so does Robin, but he's not here, and neither is the prouf." Sara answered promptly.

It didn't take me to long to deduce where said prouf was.

"I don't think Tina can go to where the prouf is." I pointed out.

"If Sara can produce said prouf, I can make a mental record of it and play it back." Liz offered.

"I didn't know you could do that!" Sara exclaimed.

"I can to." Rotom said as he came up behind us.

"Two heads are better than one." Liz said.

I knew where the door to the velvet room was, and promptly lead the others to it.

Tina tagged along; not that I could really blame her, and showed no surprised reaction when I opened the door and stepped through it.

To my surprise however, she was still with us on the other side.

"Aah Tina. We've been expecting you." Igore said cheerfully.

"Really? Why so?" Tina asked.

Igore just chuckled playfully in reply before walking away.

"He means you'll see." Liz explained.

Sara Wasted no time in showing us to the house and its; somewhat' strange metaphor of a car.

"This is one of those traveling machines humans use." Tina said as sara opened the driver's door and they both got in.

"Do we need to travel somewhere else?" Tina asked after Liz and I got in the back and Rotom climbed up front.

"No, we don't, we just need to find the CD because this car is the only source of power here." Sara explained while rummaging through the console

"Hmm? It's not here?" Sara asked to herself.

"Perhaps I can help if you could be so kind as to tell me exactly what we are looking for?" Tina offered.

"It's not here!" Sarah said exasperatedly.

"Just the same, I shal take a look." Tina said as she took her turn rummaging through the console.

Not to surprisingly, her sirch yielded results.

"Selected moments from the life of Tina wigglytuff." She read from a CD's case after pulling it out of the console with some effort.

"Huh? Why do we need that?" Rotom asked.

"You'll see, as long as I can find the" Sara began; right before something landed near tina.

Judging from the somewhat metallic sound, I guessed correctly that it was Clefki, who deftly activated all the systems before Sarah slid the CD into the player.

A loud argument in Wigglytuf language filled the car, and tina sighed in triumph.

"This shal work nicely." she said as she navigated the tracklist on the CD.

"Who were you arguing with?" Clefki asked.

"daniel, who else?" tina answered as if to say, 'need you ask?'

"Friend of yours? Rotom asked.

"No, half brother, if we are being technical." Tina explained.

"That doesn't sound like him." I observed.

"Younger, three years ago." tina explained shortly, as she seemed to have found what she was looking for.

In the recording, a vary frustrated Tina was speaking to the empty air in what I guessed was her house.

"What are we going to do with him?" she asked.

"Teach him, what else?" a vary monstrous voice replied.

The real Tina gasped as the Tina in the recording spoke again.

"But he acts so"

"privileged? Of course he does. and he will keep acting that way unless a person he respects shows him otherwise. the other voice responded.

Tina stopped the recording at that point, and seemed to be about to cry.

"It's not your fault." Rotom soothed.

"How so?" Tina asked; getting back in control of her emotions.

"You called this thing a Psynet correct?" Rotom confirmed.

"So show me your psychic powers please." Rotom asked after a few seconds; probably because Tina nodded to his previous question.

She must have, because their were utterances of, "Oh no." and "I see." from Rotom and Liz.

"With powers that week, a Gengar would have no choice but to draw on imagery from your mind in order to make contact." Rotom explained.

"And just because it's a Gengar, doesn't automatically make it evil. I mean, look at Hope. She's never supposed to leave her home, or be helpfull to anyone other than herself, but she's done both. Feara's supposed to be a smelly mean jirk, but so far she hasn't been. And Bella's supposed to think of nothing but killing, but she's found friends in Crystal and Bethany, and helps them out everyday, and don't even get me started on Crystal, so, yeah, a nice Gengar isn't out of the question." Sara explained.

"So we just leave things alone?" Tina asked.

"You could, or you might decide to at the vary least let your brother know, just in case." Liz offered.

"I cannot go back home." Tina pointed out.

"You don't need to, I don't think." sara said before showing Tina how the radeo could be used to listen in on events in progress elsewhere in the world.

She tuned into Robin beeing extremely bord, then crystal typing away at her computer, then Bella and Bethany mixing some kind of wickedly complex potion.

"See? All you have to do is want it badly enough." Sara said.

"Okay?" Tina said before pressing a button that caused Trey's voice to come out of the speakers.

"How long until they come back?" he was asking.

"No telling, so we better move now." Daniel replied.

"That could take weeks." Ruby exclaimed.

"Then we leave everything behind and only move ourselves." Daniel added.

"What is going on?" tina asked.

"Tina? Where are you?" daniel asked; sounding more than a little surprised.

"That is not important right now. Who has found you?" she asked.

"Humans. two of them stumbled upon the village half an hour ago. I got word from the centuries just after you left, and we have been trying to figure out what to do, as more are probably coming." Daniel explained.

"Daniel, you do remember the moving plans right?" Tina asked slowly.

He only sighed deeply before saying; vary quietly, "I slept through dad's lecture on that."

"Well I, didn't." Ruby said, just as quietly.

several Wigglytuff gasped at her use of a contraction.

"Yeah I use contractions now, sue me!" she said to them before going into detailed plans to move the village in the event of human discovery.

"Tina you're okay where you are?" she asked once she was done.

Tina said she was, so Ruby told her to stay put and get some world experience while she and Trey took care of the move.

"We'll be in touch soon. they gave you coins yes?" she asked.

"No they did not!" Tina exclaimed.

"Then we will find you through crystal." Daniel said before the, umm connection? went dead.

"Great." Tina sarcastically said after static had issued from the speakers for about half a minute.

"Looks like you're stuck with us." Liz quietly observed.

"Tina sighed in agreement before making to remove Clefki.

No wait!" Sara called; sirching through the stations until she found Robin again.

"Robin?" she whispered.

When a response wasn't forthcomming, she tried again to no avail before angrily blowing out her breath; and a little bit of ice to.

"This sucks. We can hear, but can't speak to him." Sara said

"Speak to whom?" Maria's voice asked from just outside the car before she climbed in; politely displacing Sarah and tina in the process.

"Robin, the Pidgeot who was with us at the ranch." Sara explained as Tina put the CD of her day with Daniel back in the console.

"What all's in their?" Maria asked.

"I suppose, what ever you wish." Rotom offered.

"So if I were to wish to know if Robin left a message?" Maria asked before sticking her hand in and coming up with a CD.

"Wow!" she whispered as she insirted the CD.

Robin's breathing filled the speakers before he spoke.

"Okay guies, I'm not that great at dictating messages, but here goes.

First of all, my condolences on your gym loss. though I wasn't their in person, I was in spiret through my persona, and saw everything. sorry things went badly for you, but it wasn't all bad, as you seemed to have found a loophole that allowed Maria to befriend you.

That being said, try to make her a part of the team as much as possible, as This will most likely be her only chance to be a part of any team in her life."

From what I witnessed through my persona, it seems like you've; once again; stumbled upon an incredible friend, two of them, if Feara decides to stay."

Here, robin paused for a time; as if gathering his thoughts.

"Listen everyone," he began slowly, "I've excepted an assignment for the velvet crew that could keep me tied up for a considerable time, but I'll end up finding my bird self much quicker this way than any other, so it's worth the wrisk I'm taking.

I can't say what that assignment is here, but I'll be vary careful, and see you when I see you.

If I can't leave another message like this one," here he paused again, sighed, then made to speak again.

"I don't want to think like that, so I'll see you all later!" he said before falling silent again.

I thought he was done, but no effort was made to remove the cd.

After a time, robin sighed in resignation.

"Tell feara" he began, but couldn't seem to get the words out.

He seemed to be trying to work up the courage to say something, but eventually just sighed the words, Just forge" before the recording ended.

"Tell her what!" Sara cried, pressing play several times.

"That's sweet, he loves her." Maria said; removing the CD that vanished before it could be put back into its case.

"I didn't think bird affection worked that way." I said as we began to exit the strange car.

"He lived with humans most of his life yes?" Maria asked, folowing us after putting everything back where it belonged.

"He did, why?" Sara asked.

"It's simple. He's just feeling things the way humans do, and expressing them the same way as well." Maria explained as we headed to the exit back to Crystal's.

As we reached the velvet Pokémon center, I realized Liz wasn't with us.

I pointed this out, and Maria told me that Liz had ducked back into the car after we'd left.

She showed up a little breathless about a minute later, and asked Margaret if it was possible for her to drop Liz in and out of a specified location in a seven second interval; without any way for an observer to discern the method of entry or exit.

It's possible, provided you know the exact location, and if a door is nearby." Margaret confirmed; sounding more than a little cuirious.

Liz gave Margaret said location along with another she needed to be warped to afterword before talking kind of fast.

"One of you go back to Crystal's and bring Chris here. This place might be able to help him find his mom. I have something I need to finish regarding my previous trainer, so I'll see you guies later."

She then turned to Margaret and indicated she was ready.

I then saw how Margaret and Elizabeth got around as quickly as they did as Margaret made a door in thin air that Liz walked through.

Seven seconds later, a cupple of doors appeared; one that Liz came out of, and the other she went through; all at the exact same time.

As she did, a strange screaming sound echoed in the air, but only for about a second or so.

"Oh my." was Margaret's only response.

I realized that Liz had found a way to liborate her previous trainer from his vary controling Gardevoir by ariving and leaving without said Gardevoir being able to know about it.

I had a theory as to how this was done, but decided to let Liz fill us in later.

As to the other place Liz went, I thought it might be related, but again wanted Liz to tell us in her own time.

"Okay, so who's getting chris?" Sara asked.

"I will." Rotom said Happily before leaving to do just that.

Rotom returned a few minutes later with not just Chris, but Christina as well.

"Sorry, they're kind of joined at the hip." Rotom said as an apology.

"If it has to do with Chris, it has to do with me." Christina added.

Several minutes later, we were all in the car again with chris at the wheel and Christina beside him.

Sara explained to Chris how the radeo could link to things the operator wanted to hear, and Christina happily showed Chris how to work it.

soon enough, we were listening to a vary frustrated Pikachu arguing with some kind of official about how its size didn't immediately disqualify it from participating in some kind of tournament.

"Ms. Norma." the official began pointedly, and I knew our hunch was right.

"We at the Ferrum league respect your many years of service, and understand your need to keep participating in the sport you love. However, for reasons we can't understand, you've suddenly grown to large to be counted as a Pikachu worthy of participation in the Ferrum compatition.

We understand this is all you know, and deeply regret having to let you go, but rules are rules, and if we bend them to let you participate, things could get, complicated vary quickly, as we'll then have to let every abnormally-sized Pokémon participate, regardless of species."

Here he paused to collect his thoughts.

"We know you pine for your son Chris, and have wun many battles here in order to raise the necessary funds to find him."

Their was a pause before norma responded vary slowly.

"Let me guess. I have them?"

"You have more than you need, and we've issued you an account card that'll let you withdraw them anywhere in the world. That card is now in your room, so please go pack up, and good luck."

Norma turned to leave, but before she could open the door, the official spoke up again.

"Norma, we'll still help you out if we can, and if Chris wants to take part in the Ferrum league, he's got an open spot when ever he's ready."

Norma thanked the official, then left and began a vary long walk that ended in her sitting in a room softly crying.

"Poor girl lost everything." I said.

"No joke." Maria said solemly.

We then heard Norma find her bank card, exclaim at its monetary value, then make to leave.

Things got, more than a little weird, when she opened her bed room door.

Instead of the hallway she walked down to reach it, the door to her room now lead to a sunny naborhood.

Norma exclaimed at the occurance, but walked through the door anyway.

As it closed, it must have disappeared, because Norma uttered a small "Huh?" before possibly looking around.

I heard a small female chuckle from Margaret, but couldn't place its source, and knew she'd arranged for Norma's transportation.

I didn't have long to wonder where Norma had been sent, because she was soon knocking on a door and speaking to Bella before the audio ended in static.

At this point, Christina turned the radeo off with an agrovated sigh, and I had a pretty good idea why.

"Bella not good with strangers?" Chris asked quietly.

"Depends on the stranger." Christina answered; reaching past him to open his door.

He and Christina jumped out of the car with the rest of us following behind soon after.

as we walked back through the Pokémon center, Margaret told us that she'd only given Norma a chance at finding us, and that we shouldn't expect many more favors like this.

We all thanked her, then walked through the velvet door back to Crystal's.

We arived just in time to hear Norma explaining her situation to Bella and Crystal as she was lead to the room where we'd just ended up.

Their; understandably; was a long pause as mother and son saw each other for the first time in years.

"Wow you're bigger!" they both said together.

"You're big like me." Crystal said at the same time, but to Norma.

"Ahuh, most likely do to the fact that I'm a threshholder." Norma responded as she nelt to get a better look at her son.

"Speaking of," she reflected.

"I'm Alolan, and you might be to." Chris explained.

"Huh. Maybe." Norma reflected.

"What do you mean?" Chris and I asked.

"See, I was taken from my original home, not to long after I was boarn, so I could be raised in the Ferrum traditions of, well, hand-to-hand fighting, so for all I know that place could have been Alola." Norma explained.

"So my dad?" Chris asked.

"Umm, your dad, is, not of our species." Norma said slowly.

"Oh? What is he then?" Chris asked.

"A Buneary." Norma whispered without inflection.

"What! That actually works?" Sara exclaimed.

"In this case, yes. Pikachu and Buneary are both rodents, so the pairing works." Rotom explained.

"Okay? So why didn't you stop him?" Chris asked.

"I didn't know any better. At that time I figured if we didn't look alike their wasn't an issue, and he was just playing around, well both of us were. By the time you popped out, it was a little to late to stop you, and I kind of wanted a child anyway so..." she trailed off, but Chris had more questions.

"So why did you leave me?" Chris asked; unsure if he should feel hurt or not.

"That's where things get, really weird." Norma began.

"You see both of us were playing in an open field as mother and child are want to do, when you suddenly disappeared. You didn't jump into bushes or run away from me you were just gone. I can't explain it in any other way other than to say that I was looking right at you. One second you were their, the next you were gone. Poof!" Norma explained before sitting down.

"No sound or anything?" Hope asked.

"That's right. After that the island was sirched, and I did keep an eye on all the trainer news outlets for several years for anything about a really fast Pikachu, but nothing." Norma finished.

We then filled her in on what had happened after she'd lost track of her son, his being taken in by a group of Pikachu, Liz's taking Chris under her wing and trying to repair the damage to his electric sacks, the both of them meating up with me, all that stuff.

"That, explains a lot." Norma finally concluded once we were done.

"It sure does." Crystal said.

"Excuse me, ms. Norma?" Sara asked.

"Yes Sara?" Norma offered as she nelt to be on Sara's level.

"What's, a, thresholder?" Sara asked

Norma; for some reason; didn't answer right away.

"It's a Pokémon that's past the threshold, of evolution." Crystal replied after waiting for norma to give one.

"That means I could be big like you? Oh boy oh boy!" Sara exclaimed; jumping up and down while letting out small blasts of water; almost in Norma's face.

Norma playfully blew the water back at Sarah before continuing.

"No, little Piplup... You'd, probably get to... maybe, one foot ten?"

"What? Really?" Sara asked; outraged.

"That's about right. Sorry." Rotom added.

"darn it! If I got big like both of you I'd be able to protect Hope." sara complained.

"Trust me. Being big, is not all it's cracked up to be." Hope said; also nealing down.

"Seconded." Norma and Crystal said together.

"So while we're on the subject, what's with you Crystal? You eluded to a transformation when we first met, but you seemed like you weren't willing to elaborate to much on it." I offered.

"I thresholded, but didn't know it. Once I found out what had happened, I tried the usual method of gaining experience through battling, but that didn't seem to help.

So, I left home and tried to find some older and wizer Marill that could at least shed light on my problem, though I didn't get to far when I heard about stone induced evolution for Pokémon like Pikachu.

I of course already knew that wouldn't work on me, but I got word of a study some human scientists were doing to see if evolution could be induced in thresholders like myself, and naturally applied.

To my surprise, I was excepted, and, well, to make a long story short, the results were, not exactly what was promised, but I made peace with my situation, and here I am."

"And you?" I asked in Norma's direction.

"It's much simpler. Ferum isn't near any thunder stone radiation, so naturally i wasn't exposed to it. To much time passed, I was fighting much bigger Pokémon than myself on a dayly basis, the dormant cells in my body activated and boom!"

At this point, she stood up, walked over to me, stood up straight, and said, "Pikachu." as if she were introducing herself in a somewhat bord way.

"So, the same thing happend to me?" Hope asked.

"Sort of. That Transform technique you used sped up the multiplication rate of the cells in your body, so you grew up so fast that you overshot your max height by a bit." Crystal explained.

"It's just as well. I'll be dead in six to eight months anyway." Hope replied.

At this, sara broke down into tears right their on the spot, and it was Norma that picked her up.

"So, seeing as I did find you..." Norma said in Chris' direction before handing something to Crystal.

"Huh? Why?" Crystal asked.

"You're his care-taker, so the money on that card is yours now." Norma explained.

"I'm not his care-taker." Crystal laughed as she handed the card back to Norma; who handed it to Bella.

"I'm not either." she said before handing the card back to its owner.

"Okay, Piplup? Where'd you come from?" Norma asked.

Sara told her, but I jumped in to say that Juniper wasn't my care-taker, just the person I got my starter Pokémon from.

I then let her know that she could give the money to me, as I'd most likely need it soon.

She thought about it, then asked if I'd mind her tagging along for a bit.

"Why not." I agreed before Crystal made to speak.

"Seeing as everyone is here right now, this is as good a time as any to make an anouncement.

She took a seat at this point, and we all did to.

"I've decided, that, my computing enterprise, has reached the point where I can just handle small things like OS updates and such and outsource most parts to other people."

She paused at this point; probably for objections.

"What happend to 'my OS,' 'My code." Bella asked.

"The OS and code are still mine, but realistically speaking, I can't afford to travel all around the world doing tech support stuff as I'd like."

"But what about training these people you'll be hiring?" Bethany asked.

"Bethany, even you could do tech support." Crystal suggested.

Before Bethany could object, Crystal continued.

"I'm not saying you should, just that Jule is so simple to use that even you could if you wanted to."

"So it'll be easy to teach people, but how are you going to screne these people?" Norma asked.

"I'm not, others are, and I'll just, kind of, filter them to get the best candidates. We've already had some success." Crystal offered.

"And you'll just supervise repairs and such remotely?" I asked.

"Ahuh. i've already made, and tested an app for that, and I can still do local support if need be." Crystal replied; with just a small bit of pride.

"Well, if you're okay with all this, I don't guess Bella and I have room to object." Bethany concluded after some thought.

Crystal seemed to process this, then made to speak again.

"So, all that out of the way, here are my thoughts.

This section of Unova is a simmi-remote island, and this 'house' we've managed to aquire has lots of unused space.

That being said, I'd like to try and use it to raise and protect Pokémon that trainers might consider raising as starter Pokémon, as we could do a service to endangered Pokémon this way."

"Like a professor!" Bethany exclaimed.

"No, not really, just a care-taker, but not focused on any specific region, so we could even take in Pokémon like Sara and Hope that have unique situations." Crystal explained.

"And we'd still keep our business?" Bella asked.

"Of course. We'll need lots of natural potions and the like for all those endangered Pokémon." Crystal answered.

"So double the volume huh?" Bethany asked in a low voice.

"Not exactly, but their will be an increase. Can the two of you handle that?" Crystal asked.

"If it helps Pokémon like Sara? Sure!" Bethany replied.

"All right, I'll get the paper work started." Crystal said before turning to me.

"Once we start our new life, I'm not sure how much time, or space, we'll have for you and your friends, but it'll take at least two weeks to get everything finalized, so you're welcome to stay until then." she said before going back into her office.

"Well, you know where we'll be for the next two weeks." I said in Norma's direction

"In reply, she handed me her card.

"So, how much is on here anyway?" I asked.

I cried aloud when she whispered it's amount in my ear.

"And you're just giving this much money to me?" I asked once I'd composed myself.

"I wun it fair and square, so it's mine to do with as I please. As long as you use it responsibly, I have no problem giving it to you." she afirmed.

I went over some of the things we'd most likely need the money for, food for myself and all the Pokémon, healing items for said Pokémon; curtacy of Bethany, training supplies and travel expenses.

I also explained Hope's situation and the first transportation arangements we had stimming from it.

Norma informed me that she'd given me more than enough money to arange transportation folowing our departure from the Mirical to wherever we needed to go, and I let her know that the help was vary much appreciated; provided that their wasn't a huge catch to all of it.

Her only quibble was that she be allowed to come along for a bit and get to know her son a little better, and I had absolutely no problem with that.

She let me know that; once she'd gotten what she wanted; she might even consider staying with a professor for a bit and use her gift of gab to help advance research on her species.

I told her that she was her own keeper, and; as such; she could do whatever she wanted with her life.

She thanked me for my understanding of her situation, but as she was doing that, she walked up to me and held out her hand.

She laughed as I shook it; telling me that she needed me to capture her so everything would be "legal with the league."

I was hesitant to comply with her request right away; seeing as Margaret had obviously intervened in Norma's search procedure, and a quick capture might raise questions in places where they shouldn't be raised.

I was trying to figure out how to explain this to Norma; and what to leave in and out, when Liz came through the front door.

Introductions were quickly exchanged, and Liz let us know that she had liborated her previous trainer from his vary controling Gardevoir; as I'd suspected.

"Is that why we heard screaming?" Sara asked

"Yes. That was the time shock taking effect." Liz replied.

"Time shock!" we all asked; except Norma.

"That's where a psychic Pokémon like Gardevoir becomes so reliant on its abilitty to see the future that in a sence, that's all it sees. If that state persists for long enough, it becomes possible for the Pokémon in question to be, essentially paralyzed if anything unexpected interrupts it, like Liz here." Norma explained; to our shock.

Our faces must have asked how she knew that information, because she quickly explained that she'd had a rivalry with a Gardevoir that had quicly turned to friendship when her unnatural size made itself known, and it was that Gardevoir who was originally going to help her escape before the officials intervened earlier that day.

"And durring your friendship, she told you about time shock?" Liz asked.

"Our conversations, got, a little off topic, okay a lot off topic, but we were both vary curious about each other, so, yeah." Norma finished laimly.

"So, what'd you do with the Gardevoir?" Sora asked.

"Dropped her off with her, umm, I guess you'd sort of call it her extended family? who have, basically grounded her for the foreseeable future." Liz explained.

"Sirves her right." I said quietly before adding, "And your previous trainer?"

"Back to normal." liz answered quickly.

"So you're free now?" Bella asked.

"As a bird." Liz answered happily.

"Speaking of..." Feara added.

"Don't worry. I haven't forgotten. As soon as Crystal gets the list ready we'll work on instaling your suggester." Liz replied.

We filled Norma in on everything that had happened to Chris, as well as my, umm, ups and downs; mostly downs.

She wasn't to hard on me; mearly pointing out that time moved just a little to fast for me to properly form and train a team, and by the time we were all done, Crystal made an appearance and informed Liz that she'd finally gotten the program ready for Feara.

I decided to let Liz work on Feara's problem as promised, while I tended to the rest of the team.

However, Norma; more or less; took charge at that point.

She seemed to have several connections with the Ferrum league that could get us a few good training partners for the next two weeks; as the league was currently in its off season.

I didn't see any problem with that; provided the Ferrum league was okay with it as well.

She then spoke with each member of the team, and; generally; figured out all stringths and weeknesses; battle related and otherwise.

After she did that, she took me aside, went over her plans, then asked me if it was okay if I'd let them go forward.

I told her that her plans were exactly the ones I would have made, only that she'd managed to take care of a lot of the backend work much faster than I could have.

She then got really close to me and whispered in my ear that she'd only go forward with said plans if I came clean regarding how she gotten their as fast as she did.

That wasn't a problem; seeing as I wanted to ask Margaret if we could somehow convert the velvet town into the velvet gym and use it for training purposes.

The Problem; it turned out, was that Margaret had broken a few, rules, in getting Norma to us as fast as she'd done it, and Igore; understandably; was, kind of mad.

"I was only trying to help." Margaret was saying as Norma and I enterd the velvet center.

"I know. You're heart is definatly in the right place, but think of the problems this will cause.

Norma never left the island through normal means, and, as far as I have come to understand it, the psychic Pokémon of this world couldn't have transported her so far in such a short time.

So you need to send her back."

Igore must have noticed us at that point, because he called us over to him.

After explaining to Norma about the velvet room and why he and his assistants were their in the first place, he drropped the bombshell.

"I know you were just looking for your son, and through Margaret's intervention you found him. Could you possibly look him up from Ferrum and arrange trabel acomidations to reach Crystal's? he asked.

Norma exhaled a thoughtfull breath before speaking.

"It might be possible, as I have a Gardevoir friend that was going to give me an escape route off the island, provided I knew where I was headed. If you get me back before I'm missed..."

She left the air open, and Igore went into action.

"Margaret, could you do that?" he asked.

"Defanatly." Margaret answered before a door appeared out of thin air.

I quickly gave Norma's card back to her, as she'd most likely need to use it to get back to us.

"I will find you again!" norma declared before stepping through and disappearing.

"Well, that's just great. She was going to arange for some of her friends to help out with training." I said quietly.

"And she still can, once she finds you again." Igore said.

"You really have that much faith in her?" I asked.

"I have faith in the glimps we gave her." Igore replied before turning away.

"So, what did you come here for." Margaret asked once Igore had gone.

"To see if we could convert the velvet room into some kind of training center.

Margaret laughed. "I don't see why not. Just say when." she teased.

"I'm not sure when that'll be, but I'll see you all later." I said before taking my leave.

A scream greeted Norma as she practically fell into her room.

(Where have you been!) her Gardevoir friend blasted into her mind.

Like most Gardevoir, she floated a few inches above the ground and didn't have the ability to speak directly using her vocal cords, though her mouth did move slightly as unintelligible sounds issued from her lyrics as if she was trying to figure out how speaking worked.

(I came back here to aquire about the escape plan and)

Gardevoir stopped talking and gave Norma a vary focused look.

(You really have been displaced!)

"Yes, I have. Though the being that did the displacing wasn't supposed to, so now I have to track Chris down somehow." Norma said with a defeated tone in her voice.

(You actually found your son!) Gardevoir almost shouted in Norma's head while simultaneously laughing out loud.

At the same time these two things were going on, she levitated even higher before settling back to her original orientation, almost like she was jumping into the air; or at least the gardevoir equivalent of it.

"Yeah but now i actually have to find him using real world methods." Norma said quietly.

Gardevoir blew out a vary long breath, while at the same time thinking, (I guess you'll have to use the computer.)

Norma blew out an equilly long breath while giving the computer in the room the evil eye.

She then sat herself down and; after a vary long time; found the power button and pressed it.

"I don't trust you." she growled at the machine as it booted up.

As if to underscore her mistrust, the screen soon displayed an error message indicating that a Juel OS upgrade had failed.

Norma wanted to scream, but settled for an electrical display instead.

Gardevoir hummed low in her throat.

"The upgrade for Juel OS, v62.55.6377.34336 has failed. Please press enter to start the troubleshooter or contact Crystal Brightstar LTD." Norma readb before letting out a scream of triumph.

"This is it, a way to reach the company!" she nearly screamed before seeing something and letting her face fall.

(What?) Gardevoir questioned.

"There's no phone number or anything."

(Well, I might not know about computers, but it would stand to reason that she'd have information somewhere. perhaps if we finished the upgrade?) Gardevoir suggested.

In response to Gardevoir's suggestion, Norma nervously pressed enter.

"Internet, connection settings?" Norma asked.

(Don't look at me.)

"I wasn't." Norma laughed.

"It's got a bunch of weird stuff here. Maybe I just press ok and see what happens?" Norma asked before doing it.

The screen whent black for a moment before saying that the connection was successfull, and an upgrade progress bar started at 79 percent complete.

"Down load?" Norma asked.

(Isn't that Crystal's number?)

Norma gasped, then ran across the room and retrieved paper and pen from her desc.

After she wrote down the number, she picked up the nearby phone and diled it in.

"Juel tec support." A glum Crystal answered.

"Crystal! It's Norma!"

"Maa, rill, Norma? So soon? Why are you calling on the tec support line?"

"I actually have a Juel issue here, and it was also the fastest way to reach you."

Norma and Crystal then worked out the issue, and soon the computer was working perfectly.

"So, how are you getting back here." Crystal asked quietly aftre the issue was solved.

"I'm still working on it, but I'll see you all soon." Norma said before hanging up.

(So, how are you getting there?) Gardevoir asked.

"I wish I knew." Norma asked; blushing a little.

(Well I know of a way, but you aren't going to like it.)

Michael's POV

"I don't understand the point of this." Sarah said; addressing Christina.

The three of us were sitting together on one of Crystal's couches, and I had the duty of holding a cup.

"We, need, to make sure, your water, is pure." Christina explained.

"That's a problem?" Sarah asked, and I couldn't tell if she was upset or just plain dumstruck.

"Yeah it could be, downl the line."

Sarah sighed. "I can't believe I'm using watergun into a cup."

But she did anyway; charging up just like I'd heard her do in battle.

A loud banging sound startled all of us, and Sarah's watergun attack filled the cup to the brim as a result.

"Wow all the way to the brim!" I said just as the door bell rang.

"How do you know?" Sarah asked.

"The pitch of the sound of liquid filling a cup or glass rizes as the container gets fuller." Christina and I explained in perfect sync.

"I got it!" Hope yelled; in regards to the door bell.

"Okay, time to taste it?" Sarah offered.

"Might as well." Christina said; taking the cup.

"Norma? What happend!" Hope's voice called, and the cup was forgotten; for the moment.

"Norma." I muttered; dumstruck; as I followed Hope's voice to the front door.

"Mom?" Chris asked; ariving shortly before us.

"How'd you, oh boy, come sit down." Maria sort of exclaimed.

She and Hope then guided Norma back to the same couch I'd just vacated, and Sarah opted to sit in my lap in order that Norma might sit in comfort.

"Here, drink this." Christina offered, and I heard Norma take the cup and drink.

"Wow! So refreshing. Any of you know what water survice Crystal subscribes to?" Norma asked.

"Uh, me!" Sarah said indignantly.

"Oh! You must be well on your way to ice beam status then." Norma observed.

"Sure, I guess." Sarah remarked, and I could tell that she'd been caught off gard by Norma's praze.

"How'd you get here so fast?" chris inquired.

Norma took her time finishing the water before she made to speak.

"Everyone? If you're ever in a situation where you're offered a spiret chain, say no most infatically as many times as it takes until the offer is rescinded."

"You're okay right?" Chris asked; just before their was a loud bang from outside.

"Oh no." Norma groaned; trying to rize but not appearing able to.

"Oh no Mom you're staying put." Chris ordered as Hope and Maria ran for the door again.

It wasn't long before Maria was running back and banging on Crystal's door calling for Liz.

"What!" Liz cried; slamming out of the room.

"There's a Gardevoir in a bad way on the front porch." Maria breathed.

"She's my friend remember?" Norma called.

"How'd you two get here?" Liz asked; making her way to the front door.

"Spiret chain." Hope supplied.

Liz said something colorful as she supposedly laid eyes on the new arival.

A short pause later, she swore again before; sort of bruskly; asking for help getting the other Gardevoir in the house before she woke up.

Needless to say, we did it, but it wasn't easy, as I'd never carried a person before.

Maria seemingly had, because; with Liz's help, we got the other gardevoir settled.

Liz?" I asked as we tucked Gardevoir in.

"Hmmm?" she answered in a distracted way.

I thought Gardevoir didn't have functioning hands."

"Yes that's true,, but only because most of us never attempt to use our hands, or legs for that matter." Liz explained.

Just then, the Gardevoir awoke, and started sobbing.

"Sobbing? That is, good, right? Tina asked.

"Well? I'm not actually sure." Liz said; throwing herself down on the couch where I'd been sitting with sarah.

"She's experiencing sensory depravation like I did back at Alder's, remember?" Liz explained.

"Yes but it didn't effect you other than disabling your powers as I recall." I replied; settling in next to her.

"That's because I've trained myself to deal with it." Liz added as Norma came over and stood over gardevoir.

"So she'll, reactivate? eventually?"

"Eventually being the operative word." Liz said as Feara came to join in the proceedings.

"She looks," She began; coming to stand by me.

Feara moved one of her wings around with a sigh before continuing, "Kind of like you."

I noticed she was pointing in Liz's direction as she spoke.

"She's a regular gardevoir, and I, chose to follow the non-psychic path." was Liz's response.

Non, Psychic?" Tina asked.

Liz brought Tina up to speed on everything she'd already told us.

Tina seemed; for the most part; to understand what Liz was saying, though she did ask if her own psychic powers could be improved with Liz's help.

Liz agreed to attempt to teach her along with Chris, but made both of them promise that she couldn't be held responsible if results were less than favorable.

Both of them agreed rather enthusiastically, and it was at that point that gardevoir decided it was time to really come awake.

Several things happened at once.

Norma was; of course; relieved, but I expected that.

Gardevoir sat up with a start and an audibel kind of loud scream/gasp, while at the same time she asked us how long she'd been out, and if she'd missed anything, with her mind.

After we asured her she'd only ben out a few minutes, and that nothing of note happend during them, she first turned her attention to liz; criticizing her improper dress and lack of psychic output.

Liz must have explained everything psychicly, because Gardevoir next turned to Feara and asked what Liz was preparing to do to her.

This time, Liz explained Feara's problem; and her planned solution; aloud so all of us could hear.

I thought it was a vary logically thought out plan, but Gardevoir had other ideas.

She first explained that bird minds opporated vary differently from human minds, and that Liz's plan, while well thought out; was doomed to failure.

She also explained that the forced insertion of human ideas wouldn't work out well for Feara in the long term, and that the true solution was to fix Feara's problem rather than try to circumvent it.

Aftore all of that, she proposed the idea of a mind walk; something I'd never heard of, but Liz objected to the idea of me going inside Feara's brane.

Gardevoir explained that she'd need another Gardevoir to help her, so liz needed to stay behind, but that it didn't really matter who went, so long as Feara trusted them.

Feara asked if two people could come, and Gardevoir explained that the recommended number was two, and that was also the maximum due to how the procedure operated.

"Two people that I trust." feara said quietly.

Liz came over to stand by me and let me know in no uncertain terms that she wasn't okay with the arangement, but that if I wanted to go through with it, she had no power to stop me.

Gardevoir explained that Liz had already prepared Feara's mind to except input from her, so Liz would be the one carying out the procedure.

That made all of us feel better, but Liz became vary nurvous.

(Don't worry. I'll be directing you.) gardevoir added.

"You mean controling me." Liz said darkly.

(No. You'll be doing everything with your considerable powers. I'll just be nudging you in the proper direction, and providing support with my powers should the need arise)

This made Liz feel better, though she still gave a nurvous sigh.

"Are we doing this then?" Feara asked.

"Looks like it." Liz said; sitting down next to me.

"Then I choose Raa, Rah, YOU!" feara finally shouted.

"I see why you need to get that fixed." Norma joked as Rotom came to stand by me as well.

"Why me?" he asked quietly.

"I have reasons." was Feara's terse response.

"I'll need a little more than that." Rotom said gently.

Feara threw up her wings before responding.

"Just come! If things are like I think, then you'll knaa, understand."

(You aren't in any danger. If things have even a remote chance of going wrong we'll have you out of there in a flash.) Gardevoir told us.

I could tell Rotom still had reservations, but he just sighed in Gardevoir's derection before asking for details.

"Basically, Bethany and I are going to put both of you to sleep, and when you wake up, you'll be in Feara's mind." Bella explained.

(You've done this before?)

"No gardevoir, not this exact procedure, but one kind of like it." Bella explained before leaving the room.

"Will I be asleep to?" Feara asked.

(No. We'll need you awake so you don't dream.)

"Gardevoir, why would that matter?"

(Feara, the dreaming mind is an extremely unpredictable place. Who knows what'll manifest, and it'll be enough of an ordeal for Michael and Rotom to traverse your waking mind as it is.)

"I see." Feara agreed as Bella returned with something that sounded sort of heavy.

"Sleep powder." Was Bella's only explanation as she set the jar down on a table.

"My, sleep powder." Bethany emphasized.

"Should I be honored?" I asked with a grin as Crystal came behind me and slipped something over my head.

"If you want." Bethany responded.

"All right." Crystal began.

"Here's how things are 'gunna work. Rotom, go ahead and sit in Michael's lap."

He did so without any argument, and Bella put something over his head as well.

"We'll start pumping sleep powder into those masks. We won't stop until it's time for you two to wake up.

Feara, you get a mask as well, but you're 'gunna be kept awake rather than asleep." Crystal explained.

Bella was hooking some kind of machine up to our masks as Crystal spoke.

"This'll be vary sudden." Bella said as she took her place next to Liz.

"I'll be helping out to, so please relax." bella added before everything got vary quiet.

"Night night." Bethany sang.

Their was a click, a soft woosh, and I knew no more.


End file.
